The Tale of Five
by Distorted Pheonix
Summary: Four boys and a girl begin a life at Hogwarts. Filled with pranks, friendship, angst, and romance, the boys grow together even as they grow apart.
1. The Thief

A chill ran down Sirius's spine, but he ignored it. Roof walking was too dangerous to allow himself to be distracted by trifles. It was perfect weather for theft, with no wind, rain, snow, or ice, but a rather cold temperature all the same. England was suffering one of it's rare summer cold spells, and Sirius planned to use it to his advantage. On cold days, everyone tended to stay huddled around the fire, trusting to the burglar alarms to warn them of intruders. There was no wind to shove him off window sills, no ice to make his grip slip, no rain to obscure his vision. In other words, perfect.

This house was peculiar, but lavish none the less. It appeared no different, but the owners had never installed a burglar alarm. Why, Sirius didn't know, but it worked to his benefit. This was a family of three, a boy about his own age and two parents. They never seemed to expect anything bad to happen to them, because their windows and doors were almost always unlocked.

Or so Sirius had thought, until now. But here he was, perched securely on the thin windowsill, braced by the gryphonic statues on either side of the stone frame, trying in vain to open a window that seemed to be unlocked.

_Come on! Open, open, open, OPEN! _And surprisingly, it was. The youth stared for a moment at the window that had seemed securely closed without being locked. Finally, he shrugged and slid in, carefully closing the window behind him. If he left it open, a draft might blow in and knock something over. That would certainly bring someone.

This was the kid's room, by the posters and bedspreads. A broomstick sat in the corner, which seemed a bit odd, but that was when he noticed the posters moved. Blinking in astonishment, he decided to ignore the oddity. _Must be one of those holograph thingies._ He headed straight for the fireplace, which held silver candlesticks, which by the weight of them, were solid. He was reaching for a funny looking ball in an open case with a rubber balls and two moving ones (_Electronics can do anything these days_) when he heard the creak of the door opening. Whirling, he stared at the son with wide eyes, astonished at his lack of vigilance in the face of such fascinating things. 

The two youths froze, brilliant blue meeting rich brown. Then, the thief whipped his sack with the candlesticks in it up over his shoulder and dashed to the window. It went up almost before he even touched it and he'd scurried halfway down the trellis before the other boy managed to work up a shout. By then of course, it was too late, and Sirius managed to get back to his small shelter in the slums with no further mishaps.

The tiny shack the youth resided in had once been a garden shed for a wealthier family, before they had moved away from the growing poverty. Now, Sirius had command of it, though he was surprised the landlord of the manor had never noticed before this. It didn't really matter though. As long as he was left alone, he was happy enough.

Inside the tiny room, a threadbare blanket provided Sirius's only warmth. In the winter, he tended to hide in attics and lofts of the rich to sleep, still cold, but at least offering more protection from the elements than the rotting walls of his home. Still, in the summer this place was pretty nice. In one corner was a bar of soap and a plastic tub, cracked on the bottom, but it leaked slowly enough that it would hold water for a while. Enough to wash his spare change of black clothes and at least sponge himself down. A dirty thief was a discovered thief. All of his clothes were black, better for night jobs. Nothing to do with his last name, of course.

The eleven year old sat down, brushing a strand of obsidian hair that had escaped the loose ponytail back from his face. Setting his loot bag in front of him, the slender, careful hands reached into the canvas and lifted out, carefully, the pair of silver candlesticks. 

They were good quality, obviously old, but untarnished, arguing for its purity. They would easily be melted down. A pretty good haul, even if he hadn't managed to get anything else. The youth was reaching for his blanket, to polish them and remove any fingerprints when his door rattled loudly.

Alarmed, he cautiously pulled it open. There, in the weeds in front of him, lay a letter. A letter! Sirius snatched it up eagerly. He had never gotten mail before. The boy could read and figure easily, after Beck had pounded the alphabet into his head, but an actual letter! Carefull he read the address, written in green ink, to make sure it was to him.

**Mr. S. Black**

The Shack Behind the Manor 

Dickens Street

London

  
  


Assured of its addressee, Sirius ripped it open, eagerly devouring its contents.

  
  


**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump)

  
  


Dear Mr. Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all neccessary books and equipment. To purchase these items, simply go to the Leaky Cauldron, at the corner of 31st and Main, and ask the man at the bar for help.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

  
  


Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

  
  


The boy's hands shook with surprise as he turned to the following sheet.

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

  
  


UNIFORM

First -year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

  
  


COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_ The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic_by Bathilda Bagshot

_The Theory Behind the Magic _by Saridar Tactimon

_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble

  
  


OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

  
  


PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

  
  


Sirius could hardly believe his eyes. This was the perfect opportunity! He could finally go somewhere where he wouldn't have to worry about what he was going to eat the next day, finally not be cold every night, finally be more than a thief! Some quick calculations in his head said he would have to do some major thieving in the next week, but it could be done. With luck, he wouldn't even have to buy anything second hand.

A soft hooting reminded him that the note had said something about responding by owl. Glancing around, the boy saw a tawny owl sitting on a branch a few yards away, waiting a bit impatiently. He hastily grabbed a bit of charcoal from a previous fire and scribbled on the back of the acceptance letter, lacking anything else.

  
  


**I'm coming.**

  
  


Committing the address to the Leaky Cauldron to memory, Sirius handed the owl the paper, who snatched it and immediately flew off. With a sigh, he watched it go, a symbol of his departing poverty.

  
  
  
  



	2. The Werewolf

Remus Lupin watched the swirling of the crowds in Diagon Alley with an accustomed eye. His parents had dropped him off in the Alley today, trusting him to buy his own supplies for Hogwarts. The boy was so happy he felt like bursting! First, the acceptance letter, now, responsibility for his purchases made him feel very old indeed, and took his mind off his ther problems.

Looking in fascination at the broomstick in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, he missed the other kid completely. Running smack into him, they both fell backwards, slightly stunned. 

Getting his breath back, Remus studied the other youth. He had long, black hair tied loosely at the nape of his neck. He was slightly grungy, as if he had never had a proper bath, but the air of recklessness hovered around him. Warm brown eyes gleamed merrily and an infectious grin spread over the other's face, making Remus smile too. He got to his feet and reached down to give Remus a hand up.

"Hullo. The name's Sirius Black."

"Remus Lupin."

"Well, Remus you look the knowledgable type. Can you tell me why they don't accept real money here?"

Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion until he saw the fistful of money in Sirius's hand. _Muggle_ money, not proper Sickles and Galleons. Laughing, he answered.

"Oh, you'll like this, I think. That is, if you enjoy fast rides."

Grabbing Sirius's black sleeve, Remus tugged him down Diagon Alley to the end. As the crooked Gringotts building came in sight, he watched with delight as Sirius's mouth dropped open.

"How does it stay _up_!?!?"

"Magic. What else?"

Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Magic. Who'dve thought?"

Remus ignored this, walking inside the building, trusting Sirius to follow him. Sure enough, after the raven haired boy got over his initial shock, he sprinted to catch up. He stopped short again inside, though.

"What _are _they?"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"They're goblins, dunce. They're in charge of money for the wizarding world, specifically Gringotts Bank."

"Wow."

The youth shoved his companion up to the Money Exhanges desk. What he didn't realize, however, was how _much_ money Sirius had. The boy kept pulling out of the most unexpected places, and by the time he was done, the pile looked to be a considerable fortune. The goblin gathered it all up and counted it out carefully.

"That comes out to 1,072 Galleons, 11 Sickles, and 19 Knuts. Would you like to keep all of this, or purchase a vault?"

"Er...a vault, I guess." Sirius purposely avoided Remus's incredulous stare.

"You will be vault 97. Here is your key. The 5 Galleons will be automatically decuted from your account."

"You haven't given me any of my money yet!"

The goblin gave him a withering look and opened his mouth to explain, but Remus dragged him away.

"Come on, its all in your vault. You have to go get it, it doesn't come to you."

"Oh."

The two managed to get to their respective vaults with no further ado. Remus's parents had given him leave to take out 5 Galleons for his school supplies, which meant everything was going to have to be purchased second hand, but he was just happy to be going to Hogwarts at all. Sirius, as expected, loved the rail carts and wanted to ride in them more, but abandoned them reluctantly after Remus told them there was more in store.

They went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasion's first, where Sirius got nice, new robes and Remus sifted through the second-hand racks until he found some that would fit. A trip to Flourish and Blotts took care of the books, paper, ink, and quills. Sirius fingered a package of ink that disappears after you read it and a package of ink that never runs no matter what you spill on the paper before purchasing two packages of each. There was a mischievious gleam in his eyes that made Remus think he didn't really want to know why, so he didn't ask.

They went to the Apothecary and got basic potions ingredients and cauldrons, as well as the snake hide gloves. A different shop provided them with scales and telescopes, as well as a trunk for Sirius. Then, it was lunchtime.

"Lets get ice cream."

"_Ice cream?_ They sell that here!?!?"

Remus stopped suddenly, giving his companion a sharp look. 

"Yes, they do. Why is that so odd?"

"Well, because isn't ice cream...well, a luxury item?"

The look on Sirius's face was odd....Remus would say it was wistful if he didn't know better.

"Um, no...Are you saying you've _never_ had ice cream? And you're _how _rich?"

Sirius grinned.

"Thief extraordinaire, at your service."

Remus sighed. Obviously, his new friend wasn't going to tell him the truth right now. Oh well.

"Ok, you must try this stuff. It's great."

At Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Remus ordered a chocolate cone while Sirius devoured a mammoth split with ten scoops of different flavors, a banana, chocolate, strawberry, and pineapple sauce, chopped nuts, sprinkles, hot fudge, seven cherries in various places, and loads of whipped cream. When he was done, there was so much ice cream all over his face that Remus took a picture with the camera he'd gotten for his birthday after he had finished cracking up. 

Sirius wiped his face with supreme, but feigned, dignity.

"What's next?"

They went to Eeylops Owl Emporium where Remus picked up his barn owl, who was being vetted. Sirius tried to pet her through the bars of her cage, and she promptly bit him. 

"Artemis doesn't really like any one other than me. I wouldn't try to pet her if I were you."

"Now you warn me," Sirius muttered, sucking on his sore finger.

The next stop was Magical Menagerie, where Sirius wanted to buy a cat. When the two boys walked in, the manager was help a customer extract remove a few Butterflirds (a cross between a hummingbird and a butterfly) from her hair, so they began looking at the kittens on their own. Since they were all over the store, not locked up in cages, they had to work a bit to find them.

"What do you think of that one?" Sirius pointed to a black kitten that was tumbling energetically over a ball of yarn.

"Nah, its cross-eyed. Go for that one." Remus gestured to a calico delicately washing her paws. 

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but a charcoal colored kitten chose that instant to jump onto his shoulder from a nearby slug aquarium and promptly batted his nose with her paw. He was so startled he close his mouth again. Remus picked the cat off Sirius's shoulder and almost dropped her when she slashed viciously at his arms. Putting the kitten down quickly, it gave him a look full of scorn and immediately began winding her lithe body around Sirius's legs.

"I think the choice has been made for me." Sirius grinned and picked her up, where she butted her head up under his chin. Remus laughed. 

"I believe you are right."

They brought the cat over to the saleslady, who had finished extracting slugs from the other witch's hair. She took one look at Sirius's armful and started.

"Oh, my! Oh my indeed!"

"What?"

"I never thought Scorn would take to _anyone_! Well, young man, you must be the only person in the world Scorn likes. I take it you want to buy her?"

"Right on the money."

After Sirius finished paying for Scorn, the two made one last stop - Ollivander's. Scorn leaped from Sirius's arms as soon as they entered, wrestling with an empty box while the two boys peered dubiously around.

"He-hello?"

A man popped out from behind a shelf of wands.

"Ah yes. Remus Lupin. And Sirius, Sirius Black, is it not? I've been waiting for you."

The boys exchanged looks with some trepidation as the old man turned his back. Only a moment passed, and Mr. Ollivander was thrusting wands into both of their hands.

It took a while before Remus found his match. The wand was 11 inches, made of teak, with the core of unicorn hair.

"Ah yes," Mr. Ollivander intoned as he fingered the wand one last time. "This hair is from a fine mare, a virgin warrior type, who had a particular reputation as a werewolf killer."

He eyed Remus and the boy shivered under his gaze, taking the wand back with quite a bit of reluctance.

Sirius took even longer to get a wand before a rosewood wand, 12 and 1/4 inches, with dragon heartstring showered red and gold sparks into the air. Mr. Ollivander had nothing of note to say about his wand, Remus noted with jealousy. 

It was dusk when they left the wand shop, and Remus noticed Sirius looking a bit worried.

"What're you thinking about?"

His friend bit his lip. 

"Its just...well, how do we get to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, right. Well, so far as I know, the Hogwarts Express - that's the train that takes us to Hogwarts - leaves from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters from King's Cross - you know where that is, right? Oh, and eleven o'clock on September 1st. I think that's it."

The confusion cleared from his companion's face. 

"All right then, I'll see you in a few days."

Remus watched as his new friend - no, _first _friend walked away into the Muggle world without a second look back.


	3. The Heir

James kissed his mother and father goodbye on the Platform. It was embarrassing, really, the fuss they made over him, but he supposed he could put up with it. After all, he was going to be away from them until Christmas. 

"Don't forget to write, dear!"

"And be good James - we expect to see a future Prefect in you!"

The boy sighed, but agreed. He was used to his parent's demands for perfection. Allowing himself a lapse, he grinned inwardly. Now, finally, they would have no real control over him, and he could pull all the pranks he had dreamed of for the past decade.

"Goodbye, Mother, Father! See you at Christmas!"

Giving them both a last hug, he snatched his trunk and dragged it quickly over to the train. In his other hand, he held the cage of Scout, his barn owl. Mounting the steps, the boy shoved the trunk into the first available compartment, following it with his owl and himself. Reaching to let Scout out of his cage, he didn't know the door of the compartment had opened again until someone cleared their throat. 

He turned around, hoping maybe to see his cousin Mundungus. Mundungus was a fourth year, who had a great talent for comedy, though his practical jokes weren't so great. Still, funny is funny and who cared if it was a different type of humor? In any case, Mud was one of the few people who understood James's predicament, and so they got along very well.

However, instead of Mud, he matched looks with a pair of oddly familiar brown eyes.

"YOU!"

James hadn't even realized he'd shouted until the thief's eyes opened wider and he swallowed hard. He remembered that night very well, as it was the only time the Potters had ever been robbed. The mansion was spelled against thieves and robbers - only an untrained wizard could have gotten past the spells, and even then, it would take a freak chance of unfocused magic to open the windows. And yet, James had walked into his room and found himself face to face with this very kid.

"Yeah, me. I stole your candlesticks. So sue me. At least I wasn't hungry for another couple of weeks."

James swallowed. He didn't care about the candlesticks, they were a set of ugly things that he'd been begging his parents to let him get rid of for ages. Heirlooms, they were, and his parents kept telling him the story of how great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Potter had enlarged them to blockade the door to keep Muggles from flooding the house during the English Civil War. James didn't care, but he did think they were ugly. 

No, it wasn't the loss of the candlesticks that had bothered him, but the fact that this youth had only been fed for a couple of weeks by them. James had never really believed that people went hungry, or didn't get enough to eat. Not until now, anyways. It's hard to believe that when practically every meal is a feast. 

Swallowing his pride, he gestured to the seat across from him in open invitation. 

"So what's your name?"

The thief looked startled for a second, then grinned, taking the seat. 

"Sirius Black. You really don't care that I stole from you?"

"Nah, we're way too loaded for our own good, as I'm always telling my parents. Besides, those candlesticks were uglier than my dog's face."

Sirius barked a laugh.

"Yeah, you're right. I had to melt them down before anyone would even think of buying them. Got a lot more for some of the jewelry I stole later that week. Got me enough to buy my supplies and some new clothes. And Scorn."

James noticed then that despite his slightly greasy hair, tied loosely at the nape of his neck, and the slightly emaciated look of his face, he was wearing new clothes, all black, but most definitely new. He was about to ask about Scorn when the door opened again. A lean youth walked in, followed by a sleek grey cat who immediately leapt onto Sirius's lap and began to purr. The boy sat down next to Sirius. He was wearing clothes a bit ragged on the edges and his crystal clear eyes seemed to sparkle a interesting shade of blue-green. What was really odd about him though, was the fact that his hair was a steel grey, streaked with strands of black and white.

"James, meet Remus. Remus, this is James."

"Hello, Remus..."

"Lupin. And you are James Potter, I presume?"

Remus offered a wolf-like grin to James, who smiled back. 

"You presume right."

"Interesting."

The two turned they're attention back to Sirius, who was holding a card and staring in fascination at it. 

"They move."

Remus thumped Sirius on the head, while James frowned at the card. It was a chocolate frog card. He'd had one on the way to the station, and since there were no wrapped in sight...He checked the pocket he'd placed the card in. It was gone.

"Hey! How did you do that?"

Remus looked at James blankly, but Sirius only grinned and handed the card back to James.

"Tricks of the trade, my dear boy."

With that, a Knut that came from nowhere began to roll itself around his hand, twining itself between his fingers. The other two now stared at _him_ in fascination.

"What trade?" That was Remus.

"Thievery. I told you before, Remus."

"You mean you really are a thief ? I thought you just didn't want to tell me how you got all that money!"

"Nope, I was telling the truth."

James's mind was working in over-gear. A thief! This was great! Now they could put their heads together and think up some great pranks. He opened his mouth to say something, but a bang at the door interrupted him, followed by a muffled shout and the sounds of a fight. He jumped to the door, but Remus beat him to it. By the indignant hiss behind him, he figured Sirius had dumped Scorn on the ground and was right behind Remus and him. 

Remus opened the door- and stared. James and Sirius did too, but James broke out of his shock soonest.

Fighting furiously to the left of the door was a red haired girl about their own age and a blond boy a little older than them. By the looks of it, the girl was soundly beating the boy, despite a black eye blossoming on her face. James had never seen anyone fight so well, but he knew that if it didn't stop soon, they'd all get in trouble. Wading in, he pulled her off the boy, while Sirius used his superior height to restrain the blond. With her arms pinned behind her back, she couldn't do anything, James thought, and stopped struggling after a moment. After she stopped trying to explode, he relaxed, but didn't release her, mainly because he could still sense her formidable anger.

That was a mistake, he discovered. The girl stomped on his instep, causing him to yelp in pain, release her, and hop around on one foot, holding the other carefully. She lunged for the blond boy still restrained by the theif, but Remus put a hand on her shoulder and glared into her brilliant green eyes, causing her to glare defiantly back. He raised an eyebrow and she grumbled, but ceased her efforts to attack the other.

James's eyes finally stopped watering in pain, and he was able to get a good lok at the boy. 

"Lucius Malfoy."

His tone was flat and accusing, but the effect was ruined somewhat by his need to lean against the wall for balance. The blond smirked and shrugged his way free of Sirius. His nose was bleeding, and broken by the odd look of it, and both eyes were turning purple, but the second year held himself as if he owned the place. James didn't like Lucius, never had, despite the fact that his parents were good friends with Malfoy's parents. All four of them had been in Gryffindor together, but the Malfoy's son had been Sorted into Slytherin.

"James Potter. Going around protecting Mudblood's now, are you?"

The girl lost her control and slugged him in the jaw, but didn't do more than the one hit. James looked at her.

"And who are you?"

"I'm Lily Evans, and I'm _not_ a Mudblood. I don't even know what it means, but he says it like it's something despicable."

"You're right. Mudblood is a dirty term that only the likes of him see fit to use. And we all know _he_ could use some manners."

Sirius shoved Malfoy down the hall. 

"Go find yourself a life, Malfoy."

The blond stumbled a bit, but managed to stay upright, gave the four a scathing look, and took himself into a nearby compartment to soothe his wounded pride and pains.

"You have a compartment yet Lily?"

She shook her head. James then noticed the trunk to the right of their door. He made amove to pick it up, but she beat him to it.

"Then you can share ours."

"What if I don't want to?"

The belligerent tone made him look at her in surprise and she shook her head ruefully, causing the mussed ponytail to completely fall out.

"Sorry, I just...well, anyways, thanks."

She preceded him into their little corner of the train, stowing her trunk away under the seat. For the first time, the youth noticed she was wearing rather holey jeans, sneakers, and a worn out t-shirt. She saw him looking at her attire and shrugged.

"Comfort over appearance."

"I agree most heartily, my dear Lily."

Lily raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who realized he'd mis-stepped with this tomboy.

"Er....my....er....Lily?"

She grinned and patted him on the cheek.

"That'll do, kid, that'll do. Hey, what's your name, anyways? And yours?"

"I'm Sirius, but not serious" - she groaned at the pun- "and that's Remus."

"Ok, let me figure out everyone. James, you're the rich heir, right? Sirius, you are someone of lower class....a thief, maybe? Remus, you're different, special, how, I don't know. Maybe it's just because you understand people but you're not filthy rich?"

James and Sirius stared at her with open mouths, while Remus pierced her with a penetrating look. It was he who spoke first, with no small bit of trepidation.

"How did you know that?"

"Well, when one's father is a psychiatrist, one tends to learn these thing. Remus, you're easy. You seem wiser than everyone else, like you know what you're doing, but tired as well. And your clothes aren't very -erm- new. James, you carry yourself like you expect everyone is watching, which I already know is going to annoy me to no end. And your clothes are high quality. Oh, and you talk like you expect people to obey. That means servants. Well, don't expect me to obey. I'm no one's servant. Right Sirius?"

"Er...right....but how did you know about me?"

"Well, you have a little Cockney in your voice, but not a lot. I don't know why you don't have more, so you're going to have to tell me, or I may well beat it out of you. Your clothes are all extremely new - my guess is that this is the first time you've worn them. You look like you haven't had a good wash in a while, just made do with the rain. No offense, right? After all, I hardly smell like a daisy, what with my mother's stables and all. You're rolling that Knut around on your knuckles, with incredible dexterity. All that sort of combines into thief."

"Yes, well...Anyways, the reason I don't speak much Cockney is because my teacher, Beck, wouldn't let us talk that way. Said it makes us stick out. And it did, I suppose, when we picked the pockets of the upper classes."

The four looked at each other and grinned. With the niceties done with, the four began planning their escapades, interrupted only when the snack witch came by. James bought for everyone, and the only change in their surroundings was the addition of many candy wrappers that became strewn around the cabin. Scorn watched both Artemis and Scout with disdain and Lily's cat Jeeves with feigned boredom. Jeeves was black with white front paws and a white splotch underneath his chin, which made him look like a butler. He didn't act like one though, playing like a kitten with the empty candy wrappers and managed even to get Scorn playing with them and him. 

A knock on their door told them they ought to change into their robes, so Lily went to get a drink of water while the boys changed and changed herself in the loo. She came back looking quite respectable, or so James thought, wearing a white polo and pair of black jeans under her witch's cloak.

A few minutes later, the train pulled into the station, and the four companions disembarked the train together, ready to begin their new life.


	4. The Tomboy

Lily gaped at the man - she may have been Muggle born, as her new friends had so patiently explained to her, but even she could figure out there was something non-human about this Hagrid. She felt better though, when she discovered she wasn't the only one staring. Sirius and even Remus were wide-eyed too, and James was having a hard time not staring, she could tell.

"All firs' years, follow me! We got ter cross the lake, inta the boats now! Four to a boat!"

The four youths scrambled into one boat, eager to get to the castle they could see spiraling high above the lake. Lily had never seen a castle before, even living in Britain - she didn't often get out of Newmarket. The sheer size of it awed her. 

The boat wobbled suddenly - Sirius had almost stood up in his excitement. Glaring at him, he shrugged an apology to her, a sheepish grin lighting his features. She just chuckled and shook her head James met her eyes with a grin, the clear sapphire sparkling with delight. Even without words, she knew what he meant - here was a fantastic place to play pranks. He was obssesed with practical jokes; probably came from being stuck in a stifling family for eleven years. Remus looked over and raised one gray eyebrow, the sly grin on his face belying his cheer at their new home.

Instead of stopping at the cliff, they went through a tunnel. Passing through the vines, Lily caught a sight of Sirius who looked, well, seriously at the cliff face. He studied it until he could no longer see it. He happened to catch sight of her curious look and mimed climbing it. 

"Oh."

He grinned at her.

A bump announced their arrival at the harbor. The four scrambled out of the boats and clambered up the steps right behind the giant man. They were so close to him that they all winced when he pounded the huge, oak doors three times.

Immediately they opened and revealed a woman wearing deep midnight blue robes. She nodded at Hagrid and looked sternly at the first years.

"Follow me."

James elbowed Lily in the side. She gave him a light shove back, but he tugged at her sleeve to get her attention. Finally looking at him, she began shaking with silent laughter. He was doing an impression of the teacher, pinched face, dour look and all. Wrenching her gaze from the sight she walked ahead of him, determined not to let the professor know she found anything amusing. Behind her, she could sense James shaking with laughter too. 

After a short journey of twists and turns, they arrived at a small room next to the dining room, or so Lily judged from the buzz of voices. The professor turned and looked down her nose at them.

"I am Professor McGonagall. In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall. There, you will be Sorted into your houses. The houses are Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. While you are here, they will be like your family. Any victories will be awarded house-points, while any breaking of rules will have them taken away. At the end of the year, the house cup will be awarded to the house with the most points. After you have been Sorted, the banquet will begin. Please wait here until I come for you."

Lily's palms began to sweat as she watched the witch vanish into the next room. She whispered urgently to Remus, who she knew was from a wizarding family.

"Sorting? What is the Sorting? We didn't have to study for it at all, did we? Because I didn't touch my books."

Remus shook his head, a lock of sterling hair falling in his eyes. 

"I don't know exactly. No one is supposed to tell us anything. But just hope you don't get Sorted into Slytherin."

"Why?"

James interrupted.

"Because it's the worst house, that's why. God, I hope I'm in Gryffindor."

Remus stared at James in disbelief. 

"Every member of your family has been in Gryffindor, James. Why wouldn't you?"

"I don't know, but if I am the first Potter to be something other than Gryffindor..."

Since he was looking positively ghost-like, Lily immediately felt sympathy for him. She awkwardly gripped his shoulder; she wasn't really good at displaying her emotions, except for anger. It seemed to be enough, though, as he shot her a look of gratitude.

Sirius had been listening the whole time.

"What about Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?"

Remus shrugged.

"They're ok. Hufflepuffs are supposed to be loyal, Ravenclaws are supposed to clever, Slytherins amibitious, and Gryffindors brave. Don't know if it's true, though. My-"

Just then, McGonagall came back and ushered them into the Great Hall. As Lily walked between the two middle tables, she felt yet again naive, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't have much time to gawk though, as the first years arrived quickly at the front. Sitting on a stool before them was the most decreipt hat she had ever seen. Even as she watched, it opened its mouth and began to chant.

_I may not be the prettiest_

That you will ever see

A thousand years or more have gone

Since I came to be

The fashions come and go again

The seasons always change

And through it all I do my job

Through the normal and the strange

I can tell between the cunning,

Clever, loyal, brave at heart

I can tell the sort you'll be

Before you even play the part

In Ravenclaw the yearn to know

Will be shared by others

For who better to share the thirst

Then by a similar another

Loyalty and dedication

Are marks of Hufflepuff

Just to toil honestly

Will always be enough

Those who are the bravest

No doubt belong in Gryffindor

Whose courageness and valor

Might earn their place in lore

And finally, the Slytherins

Love those of great amibition

Those who reach into their dreams

Will one day be magicians

So put me on and we will see

In which house you belong

Don't doubt me - I know who is who

And I've never yet been wrong

  
  


With that, the entire Hall burst into applause. Lily was no longer unsure of herself, though apprehension was still present. She was pretty sure which house she would be Sorted into. No, it was only that she hoped all three of her new friends would be in her House too. The girl had never made friends easily and was highly astonished at her current luck. It helped that they were guys. She always identified better with guys, mainly because girls, even ones her age, seemed to only think about boyfriends, makeup, and shopping.

"Ashano, Roberto!"

A tiny boy walked confidently up to the stool. Almost before the hat touched his head, it screamed "HUFFLEPUFF!" Lily started, not realizing that it was going to _talk._

"Atkinson, Jessica!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Barr, Perpetua!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Black, Sirius!"

Lily drew in a sharp breath. Her friend sat down confidently on the stool, looking almost relaxed as the Hat slipped over his eyes. It seemed almost an eternity before the hat finally shouted Sirius's destination.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The girl gulped. That was the house she _thought_ she would get into - it takes quite a bit of courage to handle 1200 pound animals when only eleven years old - but she wasn't sure. Now she felt she needed to get into that house.

Darlon, Narcissa became a Slytherin, Delaney, Steven a Ravenclaw, Dotkary, John a Ravenclaw. Then it was her turn.

"Evans, Lily"

Her heart thudded loudly as she walked up to the stool. Far from confident, she strived to seem fearless, as her mother had always taught her. Sitting carefully down on the stool, doubt filled her even as her gaze was blocked by the interior of the hat.

"Aaaaah, a horsewoman. I haven't had one of those in years! I'm sure you'll find many creatures of the equine strain that have magical natures. For instance-"

_Get it over with already!_

"Oh, you can't stand the wait, can you? Well, lets see. Plenty of ambition, oh yes. Wanted to be one of the first women jockeys, did you? I have to tell you that's unlikely now, but perhaps not impossible. Yes, you would do well in Slytherin, but somehow you don't belong there. Clever mind, intense loyalty to friends....no, you don't fit the mindset of either a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. Now, bravery! Ah, there's an overwhelming trait of yours. No fear of the truth, especially, and defying peer pressure to conform! That, my dear-"

_I'm not anyone's dear, thank you very much._

The hat just chuckled and continued.

"-is one of the best indicators of courage. Yes, you most definitely are a GRYFFINDOR!"

The girl sighed with relief and pulled the hat guickly from her crimson locks, moving confidently over to take a seat across from Sirius and next to a much older redheaded boy.

"Golenery, Elizabeth!" 

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Hartford, George!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Johnson, Sarah!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Loomis, Laura!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lupin, Remus!"

Lily's breath caught again. She watched as the boy carefully made his way up to the stool. This one seemed important - she somehow had a feeling that if he wasn't in Gryffindor, it wouldn't do the world any good. 

A moment passed. Then another. Even the teachers began to get nervous and look at one another. McGonagall had just begin to move as if to see if the Hat was working correctly when it suddenly shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Great Hall gave a collective sigh, thankful that the wait was over, and even the teachers seemed relieved, Lily noticed. Remus took a seat next to her and another of the first year girls at the table. The Sorting continued. 

Newman, Ashley went to Ravenclaw, Omar, Caleb went to Slytherin, and Pettigrew, Peter joined the Gryffindor table. Peter seemed a quite sort, chubby in the way that he hadn't lost all of his baby fat yet, but with an utterly adorable face that any mother would have cooed over. Clear, innnocent grey eyes peered out from underneath rich mahogany locks. He gave the five first years already sitting there a small smile. Lily decided she liked him.

"Potter, James!" Lily's head shot up. The boy made his way slowly up to the stool, the messy mop of hair on his head hiding his gaze from her. She crossed her fingers under the table, but shouldn't have worried. The hat had barely touched his head when it shouted confidently.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

James's face lit up and he ran over to their table, claiming a seat between Sirius and Peter. They stopped paying attention to the Sorting for a few minutes, all congratulating each other on getting into Gryffindor. Suddenly, Remus began cracking up and pointed across to where a boy was making his way to the hat. A boy whose hair looked remarkably like Sirius's all black, and long, and greasy was making his way up to the stool. James chuckled.

"Did you have a twin, Sirius?"

Sirius was staring with a dumbfounded expression, but it turned to one of relief when the boy turned around. Unlike Sirius's high cheekbones and classical features, this Severus Snape, as Jessica told them with an odd look, sported a hooked nose and foreboding features. The four felt that the hat placed him right when it yelled "SLYTHERIN!"

Finally, the Sorting was over, and Lily and Sirius blinked in astonishment as the food simply appeared on their plates. The red headed boy she was sitting next to looked over and grinned at her expression, closing her jaw with a finger. 

"Muggle-born, hmm? You are all so fascinating?"

She looked at him in bewilderment. He shook his head quickly and stuck out a hand.

"Sorry. I'm Arthur Weasley, in fourth year. I believe your friend there knows me well. Isn't that right, James?"

"Yeah, yeah Art. Just promise me you won't let Mud stand on any dinner tables this year."

The young man laughed.

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything. Mud, as you well know, has a mind of his own."

James rolled his eyes and agreed. 

At that moment, another older boy sitting across from Art interrupted. He had blond hair, and sky blue eyes, which somehow reminded her of James. 

"I wish you two wouldn't talk as if I wasn't here. It's not as if I can't hear you."

"That would be the point Mud."

"Yeah, yeah. So Jamie-"

"Don't call me that!"

"-did you ever convince your parents you really were robbed, and didn't just make up that story to have an excuse for losing those god-awful candlesticks?"

Sirius spoke now, seemingly intent on his food.

"Yeah, those were pretty ugly, weren't they? With the gargoyles and chinese dragons all over them? Talk about a wierd combination."

"And heavy too. I can't believe you didn't "accidentally" get robbed bef- hey, wait a minute. You, kid!"

Sirius looked around innocently.

"Yeah, you!"

Sirius pretended to be surprised.

"Oh, me! My name is Sirius, not You."

"Right, Sirius. Anyways, how did you know what those candlesticks look like?"

"Because I stole them."

"Oh, right then. That makes sense. Now, -wait! James, you mean you really were robbed?!?"

James smirked. That was all the answer he needed. Lily, Remus and Art were almost doubled up with laughter and even Peter chuckled at the dumbfounded Mud.

The rest of the meal passed relatively uneventfully and the first years trooped tiredly up behind Archie Weasley, their prefect. By his red hair, he looked to be the older brother of Art. Lily seperated reluctantly from her newfound gang and walked into the dormitory. Jessica and Laura were already there, talking excitedly. Jessica was a rather cute brunette and Laura had amazingly straight ebony hair. Lily fingered her own carroty waves self-consciously.

"Did you see the boys in our year?"

"Yes! Oh my god, isn't James so cute! And Sirius! And Remus! Oh, I think I'm in heaven!"

"I know! Even Peter is adorable, in that teddy bear way! And did you see Lucius Malfoy, in Slytherin?"

"Well, yes, but my parents would kill me if I ever talked to him - the whole Dark-wizard thing going on in his family."

"What?"

"You didn't know? Well, I probably shouldn't tell you...oh, hi Lily!"

"Er...hello."

"So, what type of parents do you have? Mine's a Muggle and a wizard."

"Wizard and witch, here."

"Both of mine are Muggles. My dad's a psychiatrist and my mum used to be a jockey, but she trains for Coolmore now."

The two looked blankly at her when she mentioned Coolmore, but they apparently knew wha a jockey was because they immediately began cooing.

"Oooooh, horses! I just love them. They're so pretty!"

"And they have such gorgeous manes and tails! You're so lucky, Lily!"

She kept her face from showing her disgust only with difficulty.

"Ah, yeah, I know. It's great. Listen, I'm pretty tired, so I'm just going to go ahead and go to sleep, ok?"

"Oh, sure! Goodnight, Lily!"

She sighed.

"G'night."

With that, she crawled under the covers without even changing out of her jeans and polo, falling asleep rather contented. 

  
  
  
  


hr

Disclaimer: EVERYTHING that is in Rowling's books are hers. The rest is mine. Steal it and I will eat you.

  
  


On this story, I am planning to have additions out every 2 to 3 days. I know this astonishes all of you who know me, and my usual lack of updating, but this is the first story I have really been interested in, and I have quite a bit of it planned out, instead of winging it chapter to chapter like I usually do. So ANYWAYS, I do enjoy reviews and/or constructive criticism. 


	5. The Traitor

Peter woke with a start. In a moment of panic, he felt he wasn't at home, where he belonged. He peered dimly into the gloom, finally making out three other slumbering figures. He relaxed again. That's right. Hogwarts. 

The sun chose that moment to begin to filter over the horizon, spilling slowly into the dormitory. Now Peter knew why he had awakened when he did. One always woke up at the crack of dawn on a farm, and even wizarding farms were no different. 

Peter was already slightly homesick - he'd never been away from his parents and Dee before. He thought of the pumpkins grown specifically for pumpkin pasties and juice, the different flavored cockroaches they raised for candy, the herbs they cultivated for potion ingredients. He thought of his father, tall and sunburnt, who always had a moment for him no matter what he was doing. His mother, who could cook better than anyone else. His little sister, who was so precocious at magic that her uncontrolled charms tended to be occurring constantly around her.

With a shove, he pushed the thoughts away. 

_I will not get homesick, I will not get homesick, I will not get homesick_ he chanted silently to himself. He didn't want to let everyone know how much of a country bumpkin he was, but he'd rather do that than appear to be a wimp who couldn't live without his mommy and daddy.

As the light grew stronger, he found he just couldn't stay in bed anymore. Opening his trunk, he withdrew a uniform as well as shampoo and conditioner and wandered into the tiled bathroom. 

The room was covered, ceiling to floor in a brick red tiling scheme, with a chosen row in the middle of the wall bearing a gold etched design of rampant lions. There was plenty of room for all four to be using the mirror at once, and two sinks. On the end opposite from the door to the room was another door, this time of frosted glass, that led into a bathing room, complete with a tub with four assorted faucets, a shower stall, and toilet facilities. It too was tiled in the same scheme. Probably wise, considering the likelihood of young boys to get into shampoo or toothpaste fights.

Peter dumped his uniform onto a shelf just within reach of the shower stall. Making sure there were towels, he popped into the shower, delighting in its heat. He was always cold in the morning, for some reason. No matter how hot outside, his toes were always numb. 

After a short while, he emerged, using one of the incredibly fluffy crimson towels to dry himself off. Donning his uniform, he emerged through the glass door to the sinks, opening the door to the rooms in case any of the others needed to use the bathroom. 

He spent a long time staring into the mirror, thinking. He was so deep in thought that when, ten minutes later, the one who had identified himself as a thief appeared suddenly in the doorway, it startled him.

The boy's eyes grew wide and a grin stretched across his face in delight.

"Wow."

Peter grinned at him, and bowed sarcastically, pretending to be a doorman.

"Welcome, gentle sir, to the bathrooms of Hogwarts."

Sirius laughed and shoved him good naturedly.

"Yeah, yeah, so I'm an ignorant street rat. What else is new? Hey, show me how to use the shower."

Peter blinked. Then shook his head. Of course a thief wouldn't have had an opportunity to use a shower - in fact, he'd probably made do with the rain, or maybe some soap and a sponge, by the look of the slightly clumpy hair that had become hopelessly tangled overnight. 

"Ah - you might want to brush that mop of your before you wash it. Otherwise, you'll never get the tangles out."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. I'll do that. Though why you should know that, with that stubble of yours..."

"Stubble! It's a good 3 inches long, thank you very much! Maybe stubble compared to yours, but most normal guys don't have long hair, so there!"

"I like mine long. Course, I've never had it short, so why change it?"

Sirius finally wrestled the rest of the tangles from his strands while Peter brushed his teeth. Then Peter showed him how to use the shower and listened to fifteen minutes worth of yelps as the thief turned the temperature knob either too hot or too cold in his fascination.

Remus walked in next, looking remarkably awake, and somewhat astonished at not being the first awake. 

"I thought I'd be the first one. I always am at home."

Peter chuckled.

"I'm always that last at home. Mummy and Pop are always up an hour before sunrise and Dee always manages to beat me out of bed. But I suppose I beat everyone because I live on a farm."

Remus nodded in understanding, then turned to a sink and doused his head under cold water. When he came up again, Peter realized that the alertness in Remus's eyes had just been the false bright-eyed look some people get when they first get up but aren't truly awake. 

"That's an interesting way to wake up."

The brown-haired youth grinned at him, then laughed. He explained himself when Peter looked curiously at him.

"When I was little, I used to stick my head in the toilet, because I couldn't reach the sinks. My parents hated it when I did that, though. Can't imagine why."

A mischievous look glinted in Remus's teal eyes and Peter laughed. 

"That's great."

"What's great?"

Sirius emerged from behind the glass door, furiously toweling his hair dry. The towels must have had a bit of magic in them, because when he finally pulled the towel away from his hair, it was dry, though tangled. And not greasy. Sirius fingered it and sighed in bliss.

"I have wanted to have clean hair for as long as I can remember. And now I have it. HALLELUJAH!"

The last was shouted and echoed off the tiled walls a few times. James stuck his head in and snarled just after Remus entered the bathing room.

"Can't you all be quiet while I'm trying to get some sleep?! It's bad enough that you're all up at an ungodly hour, but do you really have to shout?!? Good Lord..."

He withdrew his head of messy(er) black hair and Sirius looked at Peter with innocent brown eyes.

"Oops, did I do that? Ignorant little me, not knowing that SHOUTING in the bathroom would make an echo."

A pillow flew in and hit Sirius on the head while Peter glanced at his watch.

"James, you've only got half an hour before breakfast starts!"

"Go away!"

Peter shrugged and sat on a wooden bench to watch Sirius tie his hair up at the nape of his neck. Five minutes later, James trudged in with a thunderous look on his face. Sirius noticed and began to make sickeningly sweet minutes.

"Good morning, sweetie-pie. Ready to face the day, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?"

James glared and began to brush his hair in vain, trying flatten it against his skull. 

"I think that's a pointless task, dearie."

Sirius jumped back in alarm from the mirror. His eyes were wide and astonished and Peter doubled over laughing at the expression on his face. Remus was leaning against a wall, tears of laughter beginning to spill down his cheeks and even James came out of his grumpy mood enough to grin at Sirius's surprise.

"Mirrors _talk?_"

"Yes, of course we talk, my boy. I just wasn't awake until this one here decided to brush his hair."

"Oh."

Half an hour later, the four boys headed down the stairs to the Common Room. Peter, talking to Remus behind him walked right into Lily, who was not at all offended and seemed grateful for the fact the she had run into the four. 

"I am going to die if I have to spend another minute with either of those two air heads."

Peter noticed she was wearing jeans and a Gryffindor polo instead of the normal female uniform of a skirt. He commented on this and the girl grinned.

"I had a talk with Professor Dumbledore about the dress code this morning, when I found skirts. We decided, that since I have never worn anything but jeans, shorts, and athletic pants my entire life, that to wear skirts would turn me into something I'm not, perhaps a complete air head."

She sent a dark look back up the stairs at the two girls following distantly behind them as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

"He's a very reasonable person, Dumbledore is, and said he would make jeans a House polos part of the school uniform, since not everyone is comfortable in skirts or slacks."

Her green eyes darted sharply to Sirius and Peter, who was most definitely uncomfortable in slacks, having never worn them in his life. He squirmed under her direct gaze, but Sirius became melodramatic.

"My savior! The most astounding feat the Lily of the Valley has accomplished yet, to defeat the evil dress code and undermine the authority of the teachers themselves. Praise her! Praise her!"

Lily punched him in the arm, but she was grinning.

They entered the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Peter noticed it was a measure of everyone's personality of what they decided they wanted. Lily chose a HUGE bowl of plain Cheerios, but nothing else save a glass of orange juice. Sirius nibbled on a roll, assuring everyone that he just wasn't used to breakfast and would make sure to stuff himself at lunch and dinner. Peter had sausage and scrambled eggs and Remus swallowed a few pancakes rather rapidly. James, however, had a cinnamon roll, french toast, a bagel and cream cheese, two waffles, and a pair of sunny side up eggs. Peter stared at him as he devoured it all.

"Whaf?"

James had finally noticed everyone had now turned to look at him in amazement and commented on it halfway through his bagel. Peter was the only one who answered him.

"Where do you put it all?"

"My leg. Where else? Isn't that where everyone's stomach is?"

The other four laughed and started to return to their own meal until a third year passed them their schedules. Everyone took one and Peter passed the sheaf of papers on to the next person.

It was a mad scramble after that, because they had to return to the dormitories to get their books, then run all the way down to the dungeons for Potions. They got their books without mishap, but on their way down, Peeves jumped up in front Peter and cackled, pointing at the stairs. They vanished, becoming a steep ramp and Peter, who was last in the line of five, skidded and fell, knocking down the other five. The ended up in a pile at the bottom of the ramp, which returned momentarily to being stairs.

"Ow," groaned James.

"Can you all get OFF of me?!" Lily's voice was muffled from the bottom.

They extracted themselves and limped once more towards Potions, managing to get there without any more Peeves encounters. They sat down in their seats just as the bell rang, James partnered with Sirius, Peter partnered with Lily, and Remus taking the last table available, as everyone else in the classroom was already paired off.

Professor Guidry entered and the class began. 

_Diclaimer: Characters of Rowling's = not mine _

Ok, I know not all of you are going to agree with me, but I don't think Peter was ugly, and in fact intend him to be one of the cutest guys in the bunch in his 5th year. Right now he is chubby from baby fat, but in cute way. Since teachers and parents tend to remember you the way you first were when they saw you, even though Peter is going to be quite handsome, all the teachers are going to remember him as "the chubby one". Also, I believe he is quite decent, and only something that later makes him resent the other four is going to make him turn. That won't happen for a while, so no dark!Peter for a while. Not everyone is going to agree with my assessment, but all the other four must trust him or they wouldn't be his friend in the first place, let alone a Marauder. 


	6. The Thief

Sirius was having a bit of trouble. He had no earthly idea what the difference between pepperwort and peppermint was. They looked exactly the same to him. And Professor Guidry had assured him, many times today, that a drastic difference would be evident if he put in peppermint instead of pepperwort. And of course he'd only given them a pile of leaves, telling them it was thier job to sort the wort from the mint.

James looked just as confounded as he was, staring at the green leaves in concentration. He smelled them, but Sirius had already tried that. They all smelled the same.

"Oh, forget this."

With that, Sirius swept the whole pile into the simmering cauldron and watched in fascination as it began to bounce. As soon as the Puff Potion began to splash, he ducked under the desk, as James followed his lead. Nothing spilled on him, but the desk and the Slytherin grease ball at the table behind them got the brunt of it. Both puffed out rapidly, Snape until he looked like an extremely pale greasy pumpkin, the dest until it had pinned the two boys to the ground. 

Guidry appeared, putting something to roly poly Snape's lips, making sure he drank the cup. The boy began to shrink and Sirius sighed in regret. Now the Potions professor turned to the two Gryffindors squirming beneath the puffed wood and raised an eyebrow.

"Which of you put in peppermint?"

"Ah. Yes. Well, you see Professor-" began James.

"Which of you?"

Sirius grinned innocently. 

"I put in pepperwort too, sir."

"What?"

"Well, I couldn't tell the difference, and neither could James, so we decided to just sweep the whole pile in."

"Detention, Black! Report to me tommorrow at seven o clock. Four points from your house. Deduct another point as well, for Potter refusing to exercise his good sense."

James tried to hide a smile - tried but failed.

Guidry shrunk the wood with a wave of his wand, allowing the boys to finally get up under it and strode away, muttering under his breath. Remus glanced at Sirius from the table in front of James and Sirius and motioned for him to look. He held out two leaves.

"Wort has veins running parallel to the stem, mint has them running perpendicular to the stem."

"Ah! Thanks Remus."

They made the potion again, using Sirius's cauldron instead of James's this time. James's cauldron was still bouncing, even though there wasn't any potion in it. They got it right just in time to hear the bell ring.

"Damn, Sirius, you got the first detention of the year."

"I know. Isn't it great?"

"I think I'm jealous."

"Are you two crazy?!?" exclaimed Lily.

James and Sirius looked at each other then shook heads as if she didn't understand.

"Lily, Lily, Lily. I thought you understood the world of danger and laughter."

She rolled her eyes.

"The point is not to BE caught, but to not get caught, in my opinion. Makes it more fun than if you don't care whether you get detention or not. Besides, I enjoy having my spare time to myself, and not belonging to the teachers."

"Well, it is our sincere goal to set the record at Hogwarts for most detentions."

That was right off the top of Sirius's head, but James looked at him as if stunned.

"What?"

"_That's it!_ We'll set the record for most detentions ever at school! Who is with us?"

"Um, James, I just said that."

"It doesn't matter who said it, Sirius, its true! Who's with me and Sirius?"

Lily was shaking her head.

"I already told you two that the fun is in not getting caught for me. But I do plan on participating in every single practical joke you do. I just don't want credit."

The determined look in those emerald eyes made Sirius readily agree. 

"Yeah, that's fine with us. Anyone else want detentions, though?"

"I don't mind them, though if I have a choice I'll forego them," Remus offered.

Seeing everyone else had offered, Peter managed to stammer something out.

"I-I-I want detentions!"

James put Peter in a headlock and rubbed hard at his skull with his knuckles until the smaller boy squirmed from his grip.

"That's our boy!"

"Now we need a name - guys, shut up for a second."

The five stopped and were silent at Sirius's request, though they gave him curious looks. He tensed, hearing something, and crept silently to the corner they had just turned. When he was sure of it, he reached around the corner and grabbed whoever it was by a fistful of shirt, yanking him to plain sight of the others and throwing him to the ground.

It was Severus Snape.

He rose to his feet with supreme dignity, tossing his hair out of his face. The other four confronted him in a half circle with James at the center. Sirius remained behind him, preventing escape.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" James looked particularly cunning with that sly smile.

"Do you make a practice of following people around school on the first day?" Sirius spoke with a bite to his tone. Snape started turning half around to stare at Sirius with wide eyes. It was obvious he'd already forgotten Sirius's presence behind him. Sirius smirked at him.

Snape straightened and spoke, a flat monotone that grinded Sirius's nerves.

"Good thing I was, what with all that marauding you five are planning. I'm sure the professors would love to know about it. That is, they'll know unless you give the Slytherins....." He looked intently at all four, stopping on Lily. His mouth stretched into a caricature of a smile.

"Give the Slytherins her."

Sirius blinked, focusing on one of the words. Remus put a hand on Lily's shoulder, reminding her to hold her temper. James laughed in Snape's face, startling him. 

"You think we'd really give one of our own to the Slytherins ? Besides, I think you would find that it wasn't a kitty you were torturing, its a tiger. Now, run away and play, Snape. Have fun with your little friends."

James whirled his shoulder around and gave him a shove, sending him stumbling to the wall as the five began to make their way to class again. Sirius sent one last comment over his shoulder.

"And tell everyone the Marauders sent you."

As soon as they were out of earshot, Lily exploded, punching her fist into a nearby wall. She started to do it again, but Sirius caught her wrist from behind her and pulled her arm gently back in. Remus gripped her shoulder sympathetically as she muttered furiously under her breath.

"Like the could...could _give_ me away. Like I was theirs to give away in the first place! I'm myself, not anyone's anything, and I am not a prize to be handed from one person to another! The nerve of that slime-ball, acting so high and mighty, thinking me easy prey because I'm a _girl_. Yeah, well, just wait, grease-head, I'll get you yet!"

Remus waited for her to talk herself out before releasing his grip and the other three were markedly silent. Then James said something that Sirius's eyes light up.

"Tonight we plan. Lily, meet us in the Common Room at eleven oc clock - what?"

She was shaking her head. 

"People can hear us if they want to, if we're in the Common Room. I'll come up to your dormitory, ok? Just make sure you're awake."

"We will be."

  
  


That night, the four boys did in fact fall asleep before elevn o clock, but Sirius, with his thief instincts, heard her step on the creaky step and woke up, managing somehow to wake everyone else up before she got there.

"Well?"

"Ok, lets do this tonight, right?"

"Anything you say, oh James, our exalted leader."

"Well, the Marauders are going to be rocking tonight."

Sirius grinned at the name. It felt right. 

"Any ideas?"

Sirius offered something.

"If we can figure where their House is, I can probably get us in."

Remus coughed.

"I know where it is."

Everyone turned to stare at him. He blushed. 

"My mother was in Slytherin, but she hated it. Muggle-borns don't fit in very well in that House. She wanted me to get revenge on them, so she told me their location. It takes up the entire north-northwest tower, but you get in through the dungeons."

Sirius grinned. 

"I won't. I can climb up the wall until I find a window, then open the door in the dungeons for you."

"Sounds good. Now, what are we going to do."

Lily smiled somewhat sadistically.

"Leave Snape to me. I have got a plan for him."

"I've got regular food coloring that I can put in their water source if I find it."

He thought maybe red, or yellow. That would be good.

"I'm going to put bunny tails on their robes."

James looked sharply at Remus.

"Transfiguration that advanced? Sure you can pull it off?"

The mahogany locks shook side to side and he held up a bag of large cotton balls.

"Sirius isn't the only one who came prepared. All I've got to use is a simple Attachment Charm." 

Peter raised his hand, then put it down and offered something. 

"I know where the hosue elves are, cause Pop told me in case I got hungry. I might be able to put honey all over their utensils."

"That's a good idea Peter. Now, does anyone have a rope?"

Everyone shook their head, but Lily blinked.

"I have a lunge line. I think it was tangled with some of my clothes, so it got in. But I want it back."

James nodded and Sirius looked curiously at him. He watched as the other boy shuffled through his trunk and with drew a tub of something.

"Invisible Balm, makes an inanimate object invisible if you rub it into something. I plan on stringing the doorway with the invisible whatever-it-is line of Lily's."

They all nodded and Lily ran back to her room to grab the lungeline. She handed it to him dubiously.

"How are you going to get it back?"

Sirius prodded her.

"Oh come on, who is going to know what's there? They'll have to somehow crawl through it and they'll never figure out where its tied, especially if James ties it at the top of the doorway."

"Ok then."

The five exited, Peter splitting off at one point to go do his duty, then Sirius to go outside and the others to wait in the dungeons. He found the north-northwest tower and began his duty.

No matter who said what, roof walking was hard work, and Sirius's bare toes and gloved fingers ached by the time he reached the first window. He was wearing all black again, and this time he'd even chalked his face and toes over with black, so when he perched on the sill, most people wouldn't see anything but a shadow. Pulling his lock picking tools out, he smiled in satisfaction as the lock opened easily. Wizards obviously hadn't prepared for thieves. 

He slid in silently, closing the window behind him. Crawling carefully between the silent forms, the boy silently glided from the room, down two sets of stair, and into the common room. Wasting no time on looking around, he found the opening and pushed it open.

The three that were waiting for him started, looking at him blankly before recognizing him beneath the soot. He gestured and they followed him through, splitting up to pull their respective pranks. Sirius held the two bottles of red food coloring carefully. He simply stood for a moment, looking around with narrowed eyes, until his gaze fell on a fountain in the corner. Moving silently over to it, he put his ear to the wall behind it. He could hear the plumbing working, and smiled with satisfaction. If he put the red in the fountain, it would certainly spread to everything else by morning. Opening the two containers, he dumped them both into the fountain, watching as the water turned an opaque crimson. Satisfied that his work was completed, he moved back over to the entrace. 

James had already finished stringing the opening with the lunge line, but made out a certain area he should crawl through. Sirius did so, taking care not to rub up against the invisible strands with any charcoal. Remus came out next, and Lily followed a minute later, satisfaction written all over her face. 

The Marauders made their way up to their own Common Room, meeting Peter halfway there. Sirius watched jealously as the other three boys went immediately to sleep, but he had to get the charcoal off. Taking a quick shower, he managed to stumble into bed at one, falling asleep instantly.


	7. The Heir

James snickered as he chewed carefully on a piece of bacon. Across the hall, Snape glared at him and Lily, unable to decide which to hate more. James gave him a cold smile, meant to let the grease-ball know that yeah, he was one of those who did it.

Their whole group was suppressing laughter. The rest of the Great Hall kept glancing over to the Slytherin table, chuckling when they did. The Slytherins were silent, their indignant silence conveying their resentment.

James thought they had done a pretty good job. The entire House had trooped in together this morning, sullen and angry. Some of them had a red tint to their skin, a few had bruises from trying to get through the doorway, and all of them had white fluffy bunny tails attached to their cloaks. Snape was by far the worst off, as he not only had a reddish tint to his pale skin, but his eyes were bright pink and his hair was no longer black, but a metallic red with gold streaks. Words in rainbow colors had been painted onto the back of his cloak. "Slime Ball: Kick here", with an arrow pointing to his head. He had stared thunderously over at the Gryffindor table at James, until he shook his head and smiled cruelly, aiming a significant glance over to the red headed female. Watching his eyebrows raise in surprise had caused him to choke of a piece of egg. Lily had only looked cooly at him, then raised her goblet of orange juice in mocking toast. 

The teachers had removed the rabbit tails, and turned Snape's eyes back to their normal pink. They couldn't do anything about Snape's hair though, as Lily had used real paint to do it, only using magic to apply it without waking the boy up. Same with the words on his cloak. They had been suppressing snickers though, except for Guidry, who was head of Slytherin.

The House had sat down as a mass, before their silent treatment was ruined by their exclamations of surprise and disgust as they picked up their utensils. As Peter had promised, all of their silverware had been covered in a thick, sticky layer of honey. The Hall had lost it then, howling with laughter at the looks on the Slytherins' faces. The Marauders laughed the hardest of all, Sirius sliding under the table in his mirth, joined by Lily. James, Remus, and Peter managed to keep their seats, but Remus choked, Peter stuck an elbow into his scrambled eggs, and James almost sprayed milk out his nose. 

Finally the Hall had quieted down, but a gale of laughter still occasionally broke out. Students began leaving their tables singly and in clumps, and the Marauders left as soon as James had finished. 

Snape intercepted them outside.

"You. You five did this."

James shrugged.

"Brilliant deduction, Snape."

"Nice hair, Grease Head." Lily gave him a cutting smile. Snape swallowed.

He has a crush one her, thought James. He grinned cruelly.

"Awww, little Snape is hurt because his one true love played a mean trick on him. Poor little Snape."

He heard three sets of laughter behind him and one appalled noise. Snape's eyes hardened. He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut. James was about to turn around to see what had put the glee into his eyes when he suddenly sluged James. The punch in the face shocked and pained him enough that by the time he realized he was lying on the floor staring up to the ceiling, other things had already happened. His nose throbbing, he sat up carefully. 

Sirius was no where to be found, but Peter was groaning and crutching his crotch, while a huge older boy smiled in glee. Peter probably wasn't going anywhere for a while. Lily was pinned with her arms behind her back by a third year Slytherin, her furious green eyes throwing daggers at Lucius Malfoy.

Another older boy stood over Remus who was curled up, sweating in pain. The boy was huge as well, but didn't look particularly smart. While he was watching, the stupid one kicked Remus in the side again. James began to surge up to defend his friends when a foot came into his vision. Snape's kick caught him in the eye, sending sparks of pain through his face, as well as causing his skull to hit the stone floor rather hard. When James could stand to open his eyes, his head was to the side, staring into the shadows. 

His vision doubled for a moment, then solidified again and he found himself staring directly into Sirius's eyes. Sirius glanced significantly towards Snape, then Remus. James understood as clearly as if he had spoken that he would take care fo Snape while James got the one getting Remus. Lily, James mouthed. Sirius raised an eyebrow and James blushed slightly. She could defend herself. He nodded ever so slightly, and so was prepared when a shape detached itself from the shadows and rushed at Snape. 

Lunging up, he tackled the one kicking Remus, smiling as he heard'd Snape's exclamation of surprise. At the same time, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red squirm from the big kid's grasp and punch him in the gut. Then the one he'd tackled slammed him against a wall and he saw stars. Blackness began to fade in and out of his vision as the other wrapped his hands around his neck and began to squeeze.

"Tell your cronies to release James and Peter, Malfoy."

"But-"

"DO IT!"

"Crabbe, Goyle, stop! Stop!" His voice seemed to be strained and gasping, but they followed his desperate orders. James slumped to the ground, coughing hoarsely. He started when a hand steadied his back, but relaxed when he realized it was Remus. 

Lily had had Malfoy pinned on the ground, a hand slowly cutting off his air. Now she let him up and stared down at him disgustedly. 

"Get out of here and take your friends with you."

The blond rose slowly from the ground before gesturing and stalking off. All of the Slytherins followed, even Snape after Sirius had gotten off his chest, where the thief had been sitting. Lily and Sirius went over to Peter and helped him get up while James and Remus supported one another.

"Where to now?" Sirius asked.

"Hospital Wing," James croaked.

The five managed to get there, and was immediately accused of fighting. James grinned at all of them then spoke for the group.

"Nah, we just fell down some stairs."

In Transfiguration, for which they were late, McGonagall told them about what they would be doing in Transfiguration for the next seven years. When she turned into a cat, the class oohed and aahed. James narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. 

Herbology wasn't very interesting, but James noticed Lily was biting her lip and looked slightly worried. Managing to get her for a partner as they pruned gooseberry bushes, he asked her what was wrong.

"Just something Malfoy said."

"Malfoy said something?"

"Quite a bit actually, but you seemed too interested in the floor to pay attention."

He threw a pruned branch at her, which she ducked.

"So, what did he say?"

"He told me I should be with him, even if I was a....a Mudblood."

James's blood boiled at the insult, but was surprised at the nature of the statement.

"With you? Like, as in boyfriend, girlfriend?"

"Yeah. But I told him this: You're a bit young for that, aren't you, _ Malfoy?_" Her voice went into a falsetto when she spoke Malfoy. James laughed loudly, causing people to turn and look at them. 

"That's great. But I don't understand why all these Slytherins want have you or to be with you or whatever."

"Me neither. That's what I was wondering about."

"Huh. Odd."

"Yes."

A week passed without incident, but James was concerned about Remus. It looked like he had never recovered from the fight, and grew more pale and shaky as the days went on. He was shivering all the time, but sweated too. His pupils would expand and contract randomly too. 

One night Remus finally went to the Hospital Wing as the other four had been pestering him to do all week. He never came back to bed and James was up half the night, worried about him. When he was back the next day, he was still pale and shaking, but his eyes were normal and he assured them he was getting better.

Since he recovered his strength quickly, James didn't say anything. The Marauders continued to pull pranks, but no biggies, just a bucket of water balanced on the door into Archie Weasley's dorm room, a Filibuster Wet-Start Firework in the bottom of Snape's cauldron, a sheet rubbed with Invisible Balm stretched across the door of the Great Hall. Then flying lessons started.

When James read the flyer passed around at breakfast that announced this new lesson, he groaned.

"Oh, all the beginners! I'm going to be bored to death!"

Sirius gave him a good natured whack on the back of the head. 

"We outnumber you, James. Lily and Peter and I don't know how to fly, and we could beat you up if you complain again."

Remus grinned and added his input.

"I don't fly very well anyways, so you might as well count me as a beginner too."

James snapped his jaw shut.

That afternoon, they met on the Quidditch Pitch with the Ravenclaw first years. The Gryffindors lined up beside the seven brooms on one side, facing the six brooms of Ravenclaw on the other side. Madam Hooch, the very young Quidditch teacher appeared. Cowing everyone with her yellow eyes into silence, she began the lesson. 

"Hold your right hand over the broomsticks, class." When everyone had done so, she continued. 

"Say up!"

"UP!"

James's broomstick leaped right up into his hand and so did Lily's, surprising everyone. Sirius was one of the next ones up, rising half way at the first command, and the rest of the way after he issued it a second time. Remus frowned at his and said up again and it followed the order reluctantly. Peter's knocked him in the face, but he caught it as it was going back down.

Eventually, everyone had a broom in their hand. Hooch showed them how to mount. Going down the row, correcting grips, she paused at Lily.

"Just shift it up half an inch."

Stopping at Peter and Sirius as well, she nodded approvingly at James and continued. He gave a small, proud smile before he noticed Lily glaring at him. Wiping the smile from his lips, he just shrugged sympathetically, which seamed to appease her. 

"Now, slowly ease into the air and hover just above the ground."

He and Lily rose up immediately, though two Ravenclaws and Sirius soon joined them. The others seemed to have trouble getting off the ground. Peter was jumping up and down as if that would affect anything and Remus seemed to be concentrating very hard.

"Whoa!"

He was just wondering what Lily was yelling when his broom gave a buck, then another. Wrenching it around, he stopped its antics, shaking his head. These old school brooms almost seemed to have a mind of their own. Apparently the whole group in the air had started bucking, as apparent by the three forms on the ground. He and Lily were the only two who had stayed on. Lily had pulled the front end of hers up, like a horse, which had kept it from kicking up its back end. 

That made sense. She'd told them all about her mother being a jockey and trainer. A broom was different, but probably similar in its own way to a horse. 

Glancing down again, he watched Sirius get up and dust himself off carefully. Smiling as he remounted he turned his attention to the Ravenclaws, Steven and Ashley. Ashley seemed ok, but Steven had obviously twisted his ankle. Madam Hooch gave a curious look to the brooms, then helped off Steven to the infirmary after issuing a warning to the rest of the class to stay off their brooms.

"What was that all about?" 

James looked at Lily, who made her confusion clear through her eyes. He shook his head.

"Brooms don't usually act up like that unless under a spell, and never in a group," said Remus.

The Marauders looked at each other. 

"What could have caused it?"

"Oh, Sirius, are you alright?"

"You were sooo brave, James."

The five companions blinked. Lily choked and started coughing while Peter covered his mouth and Remus bit his lip. James and Sirius looked at one another, appalled as Laura attached herself to James and Sirius found Jessica cooing over him and his "hurts".

"I could never have done what you did, James. Will you teach me how to fly like you?"

"Sirius, maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing to make sure you're alright. I can help you there, if you want-er, need it."

"Ah, Jessica..."

"Call me Jess, Siri." 

"Don't call me Siri. I'm ok, I really am. I've taken worse falls from roofs."

"Really? Why were you on roofs?"

"Well, ah, you see....."

"He's a thief, Jess." That was Lily, with a taunting glance at Sirius.

"Really? Would you steal something from me? I mean, I could never stop you, you're so big and strong...."

Extracting his arm from hers, he moved between Remus and Lily to try and avoid her. She made a move as if to follow, but Lily glared at her and Jessica huffed haughtily and moved away.

Meanwhile, James remembered his own problem, who was currently staring up at him in bliss.

"Anyone could have done what I did, Laura."

"No, not anyone could have done it. Only a man, a real man like you, James, could have stayed aboard a bucking broom."

"I did." Lily's tone no longer held any sort of amusement and her eyes were livid. James wanted to move out of range, but the subject of her gaze was somewhat attached to him.

"Oh, Lily, you're practically a man anyways. Anyways, James, how about-"

_ "WHAT!?!?"_ Oh dear.

"Are you implying that I am a man?" There was too much control in those words. James bit his lip. Remus put a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to keep her temper. He somehow managed to warn her of her fuse like no one else could. She glanced at his hand and visibly pulled herself under control. She was still angry, though. Wrenching the black haired girl away from James, for which James was secretly relieved, she shoved her down the path.

"We'll talk later."

Laura was crying, but Lily didn't seem to care. The five watched silently as the girl caught up with her friend, careful around Lily's tangible anger. They were silent all the way back to the Common Room.

__

Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  


In case you can't tell, Lily has a short temper. She's not really mean or a bully or anything, but she's sensitive about being a tomboy. She enjoys being a tomboy, but she's does have a feminine side, and she is proud of being a girl. She absolutely cannot stand being told she's practically male, nor can she stand being told she is anyone's possession. So no, she's not cruel or anything, but she has been provoked a lot recently. Also, I know I screwed up the order, and yes Remus was supposed to be next, but I totally forgot and NEXT time the chapters go around the order will be Sirius, Remus, James, Lily, Peter. This time, and this time only it will be Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, Peter. I remembered halfway through this and wasn't about to start over.


	8. The Werewolf

Remus woke suddenly. The darkness pooled around him, swallowing his companions in its murky depths. He let his eyes adjust slowly, beginning to discern their slumbering forms in the dark fog. There was Peter, a picture from a story, the covers perfect over him and hugging a teddy bear, a smile on his face. James slept like a mad man and was always tangled up with his sheets by morning. Right now he had somehow managed to turn himself completely around, so that his feet were on the pillow and his head at the foot of the bed. Lastly, Sirius was curled into a tiny ball, not using the pilllow and only a single sheet. He didn't move at all.

He wasn't sure what had woken him up, but he didn't try to go back to sleep. Remus always tended to sleep like a rock unless he felt he was needed. He wouldn't have woken up if that peculiar sixth sense of his hadn't nudged him. 

Extracting himself from his bed, Remus rubbed his eyes carefully. The clock said it was only 12:30, but when one was asleep and woke up, it always felt much later (or earlier). The boy looked around his dorm one more time, then carefully slipped out. He closed the door silently, because he knew that if Sirius heard even a creak, he'd panic and snap awake. 

The youth padded silently down the stairs, adeptly bypassing the one squeaky step. He entered into the Common Room with no small bit of trepidation. Whoever it was that needed him might not want him. Looking around, he caught sight of a girl sitting on a sofa, staring into the fire.

It was Lily. Those brilliant jade eyes glared furiously at the hot flames, the reflection making it seem as if emerald flames leaped within her soul. A shiver ran down Remus's back, but he ignored it. Taking a seat at the other end of the couch, he too stared into the fire. He knew that she was aware of his presence and resented it, so he waited for her to make the first move. It was a long while before she did.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing."

"You came down here for a reason."

"So did you."

She was silent for a moment. Remus risked a glance over at her and was surprised to see a tear run down her cheek before she angrily swiped it away.

"You're crying!" He'd never seen her cry.

"I am not."

"I just saw a tear go down your cheek!"

"I'm not crying! I just...I just don't like it when people call me a boy."

"No one did."

"Laura did."

"Oh, right. Well, we don't think you're a boy."

"Oh, but you do. Maybe not overtly, but all of you four treat me like one of the guys. Which is the way I want it."

"Then why are you upset?"

"Because you treat me like one of the guys, but you know that I'm not. They call me a guy to my face."

There was no question of who they were.

"And I hate it! Just because I don't obsess over makeup and boys and wear nothing but jeans and polos, they just automatically assume that I must want to be male! And I don't! I'm glad I'm a girl, but I want to prove to the world that females can do everything males can!"

"Everything?" Remus raised an eyebrow and smirked. Immediately, he blushed and regretted being male and young, and, like all young males who haven't experienced anything first hand, slightly perverted.

Lily laughed, and blushed too. She had a similar sense of humor.

"Well, not _everything_. But we can do some stuff that you can't do either, eh?"

Remus quickly changed the subject.

"It's ok to cry, you know."

"It's not."

"Nothing's wrong with it."

"Everything is wrong with it. It doesn't change anything and it shows everyone your weakness."

"It's ok to let people know that you do have weaknesses, Lily. We all tend to think of you as practically superhuman, because you don't seem to have any. It's good to know that you're human. We're your friends. It's ok if you cry in front of us. We understand."

"Would you cry in front of us?"

"Well...."

"I rest my case. Would you tell the same thing to Sirius or Peter or James?"

"They wouldn't take my advice."

"But would you give it?"

"I guess not, since I don't think they'd listen."

"But you assume I would take you advice and think its ok to cry in front of you guys."

"Well...."

"It's because I'm a girl, and I'm naturally weak and everyone knows that girls break down and cry at the littlest things."

"No! That's not it at all!"

"Then why do you think I would take that advice when the other three wouldn't?"

"Er...I don't know."

"You may not think that it's because of my sex consciously, but in all guys there is a slight prejudice against women. I don't hold it against you because everyone has it, even most girls. But I will warn you that not everyone is as understanding as me."

"Oh."

"The other thing about crying - and you should remember this - is that a lot of girls tend to manipulate boys by crying. They know that a guy has no idea what to do with a crying female, so tend to try and get them to stop with whatever means possible. Don't fall for it."

"Um...ok."

They sat silently for a few minutes.

"I'm not a guy, you know. I am most definitely female. I have crushes on guys and get jealous of some girls and I am not made of stone."

"I know."

"I wish everyone else knew that as well."

With that, the red haired female rose from the couch and went up the stairs, presumably to go to sleep. Remus stared into the fire for a bit longer before doing the same.

  
  


The classes seemed to ease off the homework just before Halloween, but not much. The five Marauders were up late at night doing their homework, primarily because they'd had detention with Professor Sprout over some jumping beans that had been planted accidentally (on purpose) instead of magic beans. That is, everyone except for Lily had had detention. Not that she hadn't planted any, just that she'd planted magic beans in the same pot as the jumping beans, so it looked like she'd only planted magic beans after the jumping ones got out. 

But she was there too, helping Sirius with his Charms homework. Remus was getting a headache over the History of Magic essay and Peter was helping James with Astronomy. They all tended to do their worst subjects first, then save their best for last. That meant Lily would do Potions first, sometimes with aid from Sirius. Peter helped James with Astronomy, Lily helped Sirius with Charms, James helped Peter with Transfiguration and everyone helped Remus with History of Magic. 

They could all relax after they got through those worst subjects, because they were pretty good at the rest. They all had a separate area where they were particularly strong. Remus enjoyed Defense Against the Dark Arts, Sirius loved Potions, Lily had a knack for Charms, Peter knew the stars like the back of his hands and James's talent was in Transfiguration. Remus thought it was rather ironic that his favorite subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts, considering that he was often considered a dark creature. 

He winced, his quill blotting on his parchment. He hadn't told his friends of his secret and he didn't really want to, but it was already getting awkward to make up stories for the full moon. He'd only been gone twice, but since no one else ever left Hogwarts, it was odd when he said he had to go visit his mum. Luckily, no one seemed to notice - yet - but Remus wasn't sure how long he could keep up the act.

"Ouch!" Remus looked up just in time to see Sirius get whacked by his own wand, which seemed to be beating him in frustration. Lily whipped out her wand before Remus had even figured out what had happened.

"_Finite Incantatem!"_

The wand ceased its antics and fell to the ground. Lily picked it up and handed it to Sirius, who took it carefully. 

"What'd I do wrong?"

"You said Animata instead of Animato. That turned it from a Revival Charm to an Animation spell. And since you were looking at your wand when you said that....."

"Oh."

Remus looked down at his parchment again. Four more inches to complete. He groaned inwardly and began to make up stuff about the goblin treaties of 1931. 

"This is Sirius, right?"

"No, I'm Sirius!"

"Shut up, Sirius."

"No, that's not Sirius - "

"That's right, I'm Sirius."

"- that's Sirius."

"No, I'm Sirius!"

"SHUT UP, SIRIUS!"

Remus stifled a chuckle. Not only had both Peter and James yelled at Sirius, but Lily as well, because she was annoyed at being ignored while tutoring him. Sirius shut up.

Remus measured again. Two and a half more inches. 

"Does anyone know anything about the goblin treaties of 1931?"

"Only that the goblins came to work for Gringotts bank because of them."

"Thanks."

Writing something to that effect in extremely large handwriting, he signed his name in large letters at the bottom.

"Think Binns will care that my name is part of the foot?"

"Yes."

"Well, screw him then."

"No thanks."

Remus put the essay in his history book and check his bag for anything else. Finding all his homework done, he bid everyone goodnight and made his way up to the dormitory. 

  
  


_(Disclaimer: Not mine._

Anyways, sorry for the delay, but my internet didn't work for two days. I know this chapter wasn't particularly entertaining, but I couldn't continue unless I wanted to stop in a very odd spot. I also wanted to get everyone's strengths and weaknesses established. Next time I hope for a litle action, but I won't promise it. And there will probably be no real romance until fourth or fifth year, simply because I didn't get any until my sophomore year, which is the equivalent of fifth year. Therefore, I can't imagine having that before fifth, so although they have crushes, there won't be romance. It's going to pick up speed soon though, don't worry.)


	9. The Tomboy

Lily woke up the morning of Halloween with a splitting headache. Groaning softly (damn, that hurt!), she sat up slowly, keeping her eyes closed to slits. 

_This is what having a hangover must be like_, she thought, touching her head carefully. Gently easing from her bed, she put her feet carefully on the floor. As lightly as she did it, she still managed to jar her head and send a jolt of pain from one ear to the other. Finally, she just ignored the pain and hopped into the shower, turning the water as cold as it could get. It worked wonders on her headache, as it did most of the time, despite the fact that there were now goose bumps all over her skin. Stepping quickly from the stall, she warmed up as soon as she was dry.

Scowling at her reflection, she noted the unusual paleness of her skin and the dripping wet, shoulder-blade length hair. 

"Damn allergies. Damn water. Damn hair."

Not one of her better days.

She left the red strands down, her tender skull still not up to a vigorous drying from a towel that would dry them up quickly. Her allergies always made her have headaches, but this was the worst she'd ever had. The fact that she would have to leave her hair down all day did not make her mood any better.

Pulling a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt on over her lean frame, the girl left the two slumbering forms in the dormitory and trotted smoothly down the stairs. It was pretty early and it was Saturday, so no one was up yet. Her cat had come with her, though, and as soon as she eased herself down to the hearth in front of the empty fireplace, he began twining himself around her. Amused, she scratched the nape of his neck and the section of spine right in front of his tail - his purring was loud enough to be heard clear across the silent Common Room. 

For a long time, she lost herself in pleasing Jeeves, so when she heard a pair of bare feet pad down the stairs, the girl looked up in surprise.

"Sirius!"

His hair was all tousled and messed up from the night - not at all like the sleek ponytail she was used to him sporting. His pajamas were dark blue with small silver stars all over them - appropriate, Lily thought. He peered blearily at her and rubbed his eyes, before mumbling a half coherent sentence.

"Whashar udoyink air, Lily?"

"I'm afraid I'm not fluent in gibberish."

"Huh?"

The thief shook his head and looked around. Then, looking a bit sheepish, seemed to perk up a bit. 

"Oh, I must have taken a wrong turn at James's bedpost. I meant to find the loo and take a shower."

"Well, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place."

"That's for sure."

The boy looked back up to where his room was located and came down the rest of the way, throwing himself on a couch. Scorn came along presently and jumped atop of him, walking them length of his tall body until she found a suitable place for her rest. 

"Remus and Peter are already up and so is James, even if he claims he's not. By the time I get back up there, the restroom will be fully occupied."

"Really? Huh. That's rather odd, considering I live in a girl's dormitory, where you would think that they hogged the bathroom, but I never have problems when I want to use it."

"That's because you always wake up at some ungodly hour, " he pointed out. "Even Peter, who lives on a farm, doesn't wake up at 4:30, dark or shine."

"Closer to four. And I can't help it, really. Horses choose ungodly hours too." She paused. "Does he really live on a farm?"

"Of course he does. You've seen him in Herbology. Even if he doesn't make plants grow any better than any of us city-breds, he still knows all of the plants and in Potions, he can name any botanical ingredient and its useful properties. It's only the non-plant ones he's hopeless with."

"Oh, I should have thought of that."

The room brightened momentarily. Lily looked sharply over at the window and grinned just as the foundations of the castle shook with the horrendous thunder that had accompanied the bolt of light. It was silent indoors, excepting the booms of thunder, so despite the fact that rain sheeted against the windows, no one could hear the splash. 

"Lily? Lily? Helloooo, earth to Lily!"

"Hmmm? Oh, sorry Sirius. But it's raining!"

"So? All it means is that we're stuck inside."

"No, it means I should teach you all how to play football!"

"In the rain?"

"No better type of weather!"

"Um...except for sunshine. And snow. And clouds. And fog."

"Ah, but with rain you get mud."

"I repeat myself: So?"

"Ever play in the mud."

"Well, yes..."

"It's fun, isn't it?"

"I believe I now grasp your point. But shouldn't we wait -"

The rain suddenly stopped, as if Dumbledore had chosen for it not to rain on Halloween Saturday, the students' day off.

" - until the rain stops," Sirius finished lamely. 

Lily grinned at him.

"I guess I'd better go get the others and take a quick shower."

"I guess you'd better."

She watched the thief trudge back up the staircase and bolted back to her own dormitory. Slamming open her trunk, the girl dug through its content noisily, the bit she'd accidentally brought along clanging loudly inside her cauldron. 

"Lilyyyyy......"

A tired voice crossed her mind and she snickered inwardly. 

"Yes, Laura?"

"Why did you have to get up so early?" Laura's voice was muffled by her pillow.

"Early? It's nearly eight. I've been up for four hours now."

A groan was her only answer. She continued her search for her football.

"Lily-y-y-y-y...."

"What now?"

"What're you looking for?"

"A football."

Jessica sat straight up in bed and stared at her with somewhat pretty green eyes, clear but pale. _At least that's one thing I've got over her,_ thought Lily a bit uncharitably.

"Oooooh, are the boys going to play football? I love football. My mom used to be a cheerleader at her high school in America. Is that where you saw it?"

"No, one of my mum's jockeys is an American and he taught our stableboys and me how to play it."

"You?"

"Yeah, me. Why not?"

Jessica wrinkled her nose.

"But it's such a ...... rough sport. Aren't you've afraid of getting hurt with those big guys?"

"They're not really that big. And I'd rather have some fun than worry about risk."

"Well, all right then....Would it be all right if I watched?"

"Sure, but it's really muddy out there."

"Oh....I don't like mud. I think I'll stay inside."

"You do that."

Lily grinned to herself, over the fact that not only had she found her football, but she had succeeded in keeping Jessica away for the rest of the day from her friends. She slammed the lid down, which drew another whine from Laura, and dashed down the stairs.

All of the other four were there, looking at her dubiously. Sirius saw the pigskin in her hands and his eyes widened. 

"Is that an _American_ football?"

"Yep."

"Wow. When you said football, I thought you meant our football."

"This football is more fun. And you fall down more, which, in mud, is really great."

"Sounds like more fun than I thought it would be."

"If you want, we can bewitch a picture of Snape on the side, so that when we kick it....."

Sirius eyes lit up.

"Yes, lets!"

The other three were now staring at Sirius and her with veiled astonishment. Lily looked at their clothes and nodded in satisfaction. Sirius had obviously told them to wear their oldest, because even James was wearing tattered - well, not hand-me-downs, but worn enough. 

"Come on, Marauders! It's time you lot learned to play like a girl!"

* * * 

  
  


A few hours later, the five were almost identical figures of brown, scrambling around happily in the muck. They kept losing the ball, because it was slick and was now the exact same color as the mud. They also kept falling down without being tackled, but that was just part of the fun. Other people had watched them with amusement, but only Art and Mud had joined in, learning as quickly as Lily's four boys had picked it up. 

Mud had found the situation particularly amusing and had gone to get his wizard camera before joining in, charming it so it was impervious to mud and water and anything else that might come its way. He had taken a picture of the two red heads side by side, their crimson hair so muddied that no one would ever be able to tell the point of the picture. He'd taken a photo of himself, laughingly calling it Mud in mud. And he took many pictures of the game itself, even while playing. 

As the day passed, though, the two older boys had finally called it quits, leaving the first years to duke it out amongst themselves. The feast was in half an hour and finally Lily, her sides heaving, called a time out to discuss the situation.

"Ok....we're about.....half......an hour......away from the......Halloween feast......We're also......filthy."

James nodded and spoke, his glasses the lone clear spot on his face, charmed with the impervius spell. 

"How about.....one more.....play, and then........we go.....back inside."

The Marauders nodded and Lily, Remus, and Peter huddled together while James and Sirius conferred softly. Lily's team was about twelve meters from a touchdown, by everyone's reckoning, and the game was tied. 

"Ok, Peter. Give the ball to me and block James. Remus, you run into the end zone and try and get clear of Sirius. He'll tail you, you know he will. I'll toss to you when you're open. Got it? Break!"

They took their positions opposite Sirius and James. James snarled at her.

"The Hogwarts Robbers are going to take you down, girl."

"You can't touch us Gryffindor Heroes. Peter!"

"Hut hut hut!"

The brunette tossed the ball back to her and rushed James, tacking him by surprise. Remus took off into the makeshift end zone between the Whomping Willow (they hadn't been going near that) and the castle wall. Sirius shot after him, but her teammate stopped and whirled around him, taking him by surprise. Lily aimed and threw, Remus saw the delivery into his hands, wrapped his arms tightly around it - and Sirius knocked them both to the ground just out of bounds.

James, Lily, and Peter all laughed, but Sirius did not. Instead he got off Remus very quickly indeed and knelt down next to him, his face full of concern. The other three looked at another and raced the short distance over. 

Remus was sitting up now, though Sirius had put his hand on the other boy's shoulder as if to support him. His face was pale and he was biting his lip and cradling his left arm, though at the same time assuring Sirius.

"Sirius, it wasn't your fault. Lily warned us, and I've broken bones before. Madam Pomfrey will fix me up in a jiffy, it's nothing to worry about."

"But Remus, if I hadn't tackled you so hard -"

"Then you would have lost the game. It wasn't something you were thinking about, Sirius. It wasn't something I was thinking about either."

"If you're sure...."

"Of course I'm sure. Now, help me up."

The other four were silent until he got to his feet, then immediately all offered to take him up to the Hospital Wing. Remus chuckled carefully.

"I only need one of you to make sure I don't trip over my two left feet and fall down a flight of stairs. The rest of your go back to the dorms and then go to the feast."

"I'll go-," began Sirius.

Remus suddenly jerked his head toward the thief, his eyes unfocusing and refocusing so fast that Lily wasn't sure if it had been real.

"No. No, you go to the feast. How about Lily comes with me? She can take a shower faster than all you blockheads." He grinned wolfishly, a muddy lock falling in front of his eyes. Lily agreed immediately, though the others took a bit more convincing. In the end, though, they agreed to meet back at the feast.

They all trudged up together to the castle, until the way to the Wing split from the way to get to Gryffindor. Lily and Remus parted ways from the others there, Remus still carefully holding his arm. They walked a ways in silence before Lily finally said something.

"Why me?"

Other people might have been confused at her question, but he seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. His mouth set in a grim line and his blue-green eyes grew dark. It was a while before he spoke, but when he did, his tone was full of certainty.

"Something's going to happen tonight at the feast. I don't know what. I do know that Sirius needs to be there. James and Peter too, but Sirius most of all. If he's not there..."

"Are we not going to be there?"

"I don't know."

"Hmmm..."

She wasn't sure if she believed this.

"How do you know?"

"Just one of those ins -... hunches, I suppose."

"Ah."

They got to the Hospital Wing and the nurse tutted over Remus's broken bones.

"How did you get this?"

He looked mischievously at her after a meaningful glance at Lily.

"I fell down."

She almost gave him away laughing but managed to contain it. That was their excuse for everything and Madam Pomfrey never believed a word of it, but never questioned it either. It was funny, though, because this time it was true. The nurse just fixed it up and was no doubt about to admonish him to be more careful when it was muddy outside when the door of the infirmary bursted open and all of the professors came flooding in.

Lily and Remus stared, open mouthed as every single teacher in Hogwarts came in behind the headmaster, each and every one of them with a grim look on their face. Hagrid was carrying someone though, and laid him down carefully on a hospital bed, with Pomfrey immediately working on the form as soon as it was laid down. Lily managed a glance at the person and froze with astonishment.

"It's Art, Remus. It's Art!"

Remus swallowed audibly. Lily knew why, and was horrified herself. Art was covered in mud (predicably) and blood. It seemed to be freely flowing from his scalp and shoulder. He didn't look very good.

"Is he...Is he dead?" Lily was astonished to find herself whispering.

"No, thank god. He was very close to it, though, but we managed to get him here in time."

The two started and turned to the headmaster, who was behind them. Lily looked up into his eyes while Remus studied his toes. It was he who asked the question they were both wondering though, not she.

"Why are all of you here?"

"We cannot get into the Great Hall. The students are being held hostage."

This was the wrong thing to say to her, and obviously Remus knew it. Her face must have turned white, because he reached out for her shoulder, but she was already gone, dashing through the corridors as fast as she could go. The girl hear footsteps pounding behind her and knew her friend was right behind her. 

She ran until her lungs burned, but kept up the breakneck speed, dashing past the doors to the Great Hall, accidentally. Skidding to a halt, she raced back to where Remus had already halted, tugging at the handles in vain. The red head whipped out her wand, screaming alohomora, but neither of the two companions could get to their friends. Furious, they banged and yelled at the door, but it remained obstinately shut. 

Remus finally slumped to the floor in defeat, his shoulder shaking, his face in his hands. Lily kept screaming at the door, tears of rage slipping down her face.

"_OPEN UP YOU GODDAMN FUCKING DOOR! I SWEAR, IF YOU DON'T, I'LL _(here she described an interesting, but nonetheless anatomically impossible feat) _AND THEN I'LL...I'LL....I'll_....I'll....Oh, God."

She stared hopelessly at the door for a long time, hot tears trickling down her cheeks unnoticed before she finally remembered the friend that was with her. One glance down, and she too collapsed downwards, flinging her arms around his neck, both for support and to be his support. He did the same, and they cried into one another's shoulders for a long time.

"It's my fault, all mine, I should have told someone!"

"Remus, you didn't have a chance, no time! It's not your fault!"

"But if I'd told someone, then-"

"If you told someone, they probably wouldn't have believed you."

"Oh, _Lily_."

His voice was cracking with pain, but then, so was hers.

"I know Remus, I know. _Oh God, I know."_

  
  


_**Disclaimer: If you take my stuff I swear to God I will throw you into a vat of tapioca pudding. Yes, I know, it is both cruel and unusual. Too bad. If you steal JK Rowling's stuff, have fun with your lawsuit.**_

  
  


Ok, school started. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Less updates. Well, guess what!?!? You're right. But I think I can still manage at least every weekend. And I'm sorry for the cliff hanger, but I love cliffhangers. Unless there is no chapter after them. Which means this story. Right now, anyways. But don't worry, because I want to know what happens too, so I will push the magic fingers to obey, and hopefully have another chapter out tomorrow (*knock on wood*). One last thing - Voldemort's forces begin their reign of terror here (I won't bother to deny it, mainly because who else could it be?), but he doesn't become known (or not known) as You-Know-Who/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named until the Marauder's 4th year. Here is my logic:

  
  


1) Snape is 35 when Harry come to Hogwarts. (Rowling said so in an interview)

Harry is 11. (Duh)

Therefore Snape is 24 when Harry is born.

2) Snape and Harry's parents are the same age. (In my story)

Snape is 24 when Harry is born. (See #1)

Therefore, James and Lily are 24 when Harry is born.

  
  


3) James and Lily die when Harry is one. (In SS)

James and Lily are 24 when Harry is born. (See #2)

Therefore, James and Lily die at the age of 25.

  
  


4) On the night James and Lily die/Harry goes to the Dursleys, Dumbledore tells McGonagall that he has been trying to get people to say You-Know-Who's name for eleven years. (In SS)

James and Lily die at the age of 25. (See #3)

Therefore, the usage of You-Know-Who/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named begins when James and Lily are 14.

  
  


5) Harry is 14 in fourth year. (Duh, again.)

James and Lily are 14 when the name thing begins.

James and Lily are in fourth year when the name thing begins.

  
  


Ok, there's my wonderful logic-o-gram. My final bit is that it probably takes a while to get so scary that people are afraid to use your name, so why not start now, at Hogwarts? There you go.


	10. The Traitor

Peter sat anxiously at the Gryffindor table, swinging his legs back and forth. He eyed the empty plates as he heard his stomach growl. The golden dishes remained empty, no matter how hard he stared. 

"They aren't going to fill up just because you're staring at them, Pete," teased James. Peter groaned and buried his head in his arms as his stomach made its opinion known again.

"Look, McGonagall just came in," pointed out Sirius. "Maybe they'll start the feast now."

Indeed, as Peter pulled his gaze up to where the teachers sat, the young Transfiguration teacher was taking her seat. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked at the plates again, this time in anticipation. He wasn't disappointed, as they immediately filled with roast beef, turkey, potatoes, gravy, salad, ham, and other sorts of good feast food. Halloween it may have been, but if one had only been giving a passing glance, the scene seemed to be of Thanksgiving. The decorations surrounding the three comrades were of the gruesome sort, however. An illusion of a ballroom full of dancing skeletons grooved to Danse Macabre up in the higher reaches of the room, while live bats flew back and forth. Tombstones lined the walls and ghosts kept popping out of them every few moments. It would have greatly unnerved the boy had he not been so hungry, and relatively worried about Remus.

Peter had opened his mouth to take a first bite of ham when the doors to the Great Hall burst open. Archie Weasley ran in, his normally pale face completely white with shock and panic. He ran up to the teachers' table, right up to Dumbledore. As he flew past, Peter could swear he saw tears running down his face, but wasn't sure. Archie wasn't one to cry - or run, for that matter. What he said to Dumbledore, however, was loud enough for everyone to hear, whether or not they wanted to.

"Headmaster, oh my god, it's Art! I was just walking to use the toilet and I found him in the corridor, just lying there, and oh god, oh god, there was blood all around him, and please, come quick, and -"

"Of course, Archie. Teachers, please come with me. Head Girl Ashley Nott, Head Boy Thomas Conner, you are in charge."

With that, he swept out of the room, the rest of the teachers following him. The Ravenclaw Head Boy looked about a bit nervously. Ashley Nott, however, seemed perfectly satisfied. Drop dead gorgeous, popular, and incredibly cruel, she twisted her blonde tresses around one finger coyly. Smiling at everyone (which made the girls roll their eyes and the guys stare), she projected her dulcet voice loudly.

"Just go ahead and eat, everyone. Everything is under control."

James stared suspiciously at her. Peter noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Well, actually, yes I do. She's entirely too smug for my liking."

Sirius wrenched his gaze from her to look at James.

"She's in Slytherin, right? Well, Remus did say something was going to happen, and I guess what happened to Art was what-"

He never finished his sentence. At that moment, what seemed like hundreds of dark cloaked people burst in. Filing around the edges of the room, the last two slid an iron bar into the handles of the doors. Pointing their wands at it, the Marauders watched in semi-fascination was the metal twisted itself into a know, effectively locking all the students into the room. And locked the teachers out, realized Peter.

He swallowed.

"I'm betting that this is what Remus was thinking of," he pointed out to James. Sirius had vanished immediately after the people had entered, sliding under the table. Where he was now was anyone's guess. Peter figured it was better this way, as he might have a chance to escape now.

"Yes, you're probably right," agreed James. "There's a good forty of them here. I wonder why so many?" 

As his friend spoke, one climbed up to the platform where the teachers ate and pushed back the cowl of his cloak. He was tall, dark, and incredibly sinister, with a smirk playing on his lips. He nodded at Ashley Nott, who blushed, smiled cruelly, and stood among the ranks of the black robes.

Thomas, recovering from shock, strode angrily forward, his usually amiable expression thunderous.

"What, may I ask is the meaning of all this? You are not permitted to be here, these are school grounds, I must ask you to leave at once! Who are you?"

The wizard smiled, and Peter shivered. It was if all the cold in the world was in that smile. A hand withdrew slowly, deliberately from the depths of his robes. He pointed a long wand at the Head Boy, and before the young man had even had a chance to react, uttered one word.

"_Crucio_."

It was loud enough for everyone to hear, and Thomas wasn't the only who screamed as he collapsed. Many girls, and no few boys screamed too. James had gone as pale as a ghost and Peter was simply too shocked to do anything. The black robed figures all brought their wands out now, and began shouting Stunning Spells. Peter and James exchanged glances and dove under the table. Peter wondered where Sirius was.

When the sounds of spells finally stopped, the two first years emerged, peering around the room with trepidation. Mainly the fourth years and up had been Stunned. The rest of the students were either crying, staring in shock, or helping one another up, as James and Remus were doing. Peter slid his wand into a seam of his sweater that had been loose for a while now, relieved that he hadn't yet gotten around to repairing it magically. He motioned for James to do the same, and, after a small bit of searching, his friend finally ripped open a hem in his robes and stored his own wand there.

It was a good idea, because the caped men (women?) were now going to everyone still standing and demanding a wand. If they didn't give one, they were searched - told to take off their robes (though not their clothes, Peter noted with relief) and turn out their pockets. One of them was now walking quickly towards the two. James pasted a scared look on his face, but Peter didn't really have to. He might have been pretty wily, but he wasn't as courageous as James.

"Give me your wands."

Peter replied with a tremor in his voice that didn't have to be faked. 

"I-I don't h-have it. I l-left it back in my r-room."

James nodded quickly, his eyes widening in what looked like fright, though Peter was positive it was more like anger.

"Robes off. Turn out your pockets."

They did as he told, hands him their robes to be searched, then turned out their pockets. Not surprisingly, there was only Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and an Acid Pop in Peter's pockets, while James was only carrying a few Filibuster Fireworks. The man allowed them to pocket those items while he checked their robes. Peter almost breathed a sigh of relief when he was handed his robe back, but caught himself.

James wasn't so lucky. Even a pliable stick of wood is obvious in a pile of cloth, and the figure snarled in fury. Peter watched in horror as the man stepped forward with a swear and viciously backhanded the much smaller boy. 

"Fool!"

James was slung to the ground, where he paused for a minute. After a short moment he got up, and Peter was relieved. His friend was relatively ok, except for an already darkening bruise across his cheekbone and a shallow cut across his cheek where the man's large gold ring had cut him. What really struck Peter was the livid fury in his friend's eyes, but James didn't say anything.

The man furiously ripped James's wand from the robe's lining, leaving the tattered remains of the article of clothing lying on the floor. 

"Year and House."

James didn't answer, and after a moment of hesitation, Peter decided not to either. The man surveyed them coolly, taking in their small stature and colored ties and nodded in satisfaction.

"Of course. Gryffindor firsts. I'll leave you two to _play_."

He stalked off and began questioning Rob Ashanto and Pet Barr. James glared furiously at him until Peter put a hand on his shoulder. He started, then looked at Peter with astonished eyes before remembering who he was. 

"Where's Mud?"

Peter blinked - then looked around. He spotted the fourth year about ten meters away, looking like he'd been Stunned.

"He's over there, James."

They crept over to the older boy. Peter put his hand tentatively on Mud's arm. James was peering into his closed eyelids when they suddenly opened. The two friends gave a start when he did that, but Mud grabbed their hands, motioning them to keep quiet.

"Shhh! Are you the only two of you five who didn't get Stunned?"

Peter shook his head. 

"None of us did, actually. Well, we don't think Sirius did. He slipped off the second those....people came into the room. He's probably up in the rafters somewhere. Remus and Lily aren't here; they were in the Hospital Wing because Remus broke his arm playing football."

"And Art," Mud bit his lip worriedly, "is probably in the Wing too. So it's just us three, and maybe Sirius. All of the fourth years and up were targeted, but none of the Slytherins - did you notice that? I only got out of it by faking. The rest of the students don't seem to be in much condition to help us."

Peter sneaked around. That seemed true. The Slytherins were currently gathered in a group, the cold man talking to them. The only other people conscious were third years or down. No one else was in Gryffindor. It seemed that they had been specifically targeted. The three were on their own.

"Ok, this is what we are going to do..."

  
  


* * *

  
  


Peter bit his lip anxiously. The students had been sorted out by now. The entire Slytherin house stood on one end of the Hall, looking satisfied. Peter figured some were now spies, while others just approved of what was happening. Lucius Malfoy in particular seemed pleased, though Snape was right behind him in smugness. The unconscious students had been dumped unceremoniously on the left side of the Hall, while the black robes lined the other side. Mud and James were there too, both pretending to be Stunned, but Mud clutched his wand in his hand while James had shoved Peter's into a pocket. At the end opposite the Slytherins stood twelve Hufflepuffs, fifteen Ravenclaws, and Peter, guarded by five figures. The lone man who had shown his face paced the now cleared floor of the Great Hall. The ruins of the tables crunched under his feet.

Peter might have been peering mournfully about the floor at the remains of the feast, but was too nervous to think about it now. As the man stopped his pacing, he turned and faced the students on Peter's end of the Hall. His coloring was similar to that of James, but the smile that twisted his lips had no warmth in it, his eyes held no sparkle.

"You, my children, have been given an opportunity above that of all others. Power you will have, should you accept. Fame, even. It can all be yours."

"All you need do is pledge your allegiance to me. To Lord Voldemort. Join with me and you will never regret it. It is a new era, and I hold the power."

"We'll never join evil!" To his utter surprise, Peter found that the voice was his. It was according to plan, though, so he didn't regret it. However, he did find his hands trembling as Voldemort turned his chill gaze on him.

"Ah, yes. A Gryffindor. The brave and foolish dwell in Gryffindor. No matter. Even the strongest break." The man drew closer and placed a long, skeletal finger on his chin, forcing his gaze upwards. Peter shivered at the touch, but met the cold grey eyes of Voldemort defiantly. Stifling a gasp at the noticeable red tinge in them, he managed not to squeak.

"Do you not wish to be top of all your friends? Admired, respected? Do you not wish to control them, with your very presence? Join me, share in the power. You see, there is no good, no evil, only power and those strong enough to seek it. Are you strong enough, little Gryffindor?"

Peter glared.

"You promise only empty things. Are you admired? Or is it really jealousy that stains the hearts of your follows? Is your respect only a hollow emotion of obedience through fear? You offer us nothing."

_Come on, come on! Hurry up, James!_, thought Peter. Past being surprised at his little speech, he flicked his eyes over Voldemort's shoulder, towards the left side of the Hall where James was currently sneaking up on the wizard.

Voldemort caught even the tiny flicker of change and almost lazily aimed his wand back over his shoulder. Glancing casually at Peter's friend, he spoke in a drawl.

"_Expelliarmus_."

The spell was so powerful that it not only disarmed him, but also sent him flying back into the wall. His small form connected an audible crack and he slid down to the floor, truly unconscious this time. Peter winced. The three had predicted this outcome and agreed it was a necessary sacrifice. 

Voldemort had now left Peter and went over to inspect this new interest who dared to attempt attack. He crouched down among the Stunned students and rolled James's limp form over. Peter was alarmed to see a cold grin spread across his face. 

"Well, well, if it isn't James Potter. The son of our own, dear Minister of Magic."

Peter blinked. He hadn't known that. The present Minister was a woman named Maggie Finn - but now that he thought about it, there was remarkable resemblance between James and the pictures he'd seen of Finn. He swallowed hard. This was not good.

"I believe we now have leverage. Lestrange, Young, take him. Take his glasses, bind his hands. Don't wake him up until you have his arms completely immobile behind his back."

While Peter watched, two figures came forward and took a limp James over to a corner of the Hall to do as their leader had ordered. Peter stopped paying attention though, as yet another figure rose from the Stunned people and began to stealthily stalk towards Voldemort. When the figure was halfway there, it stopped, withdrew something from his pocket, and did something to it. Minutes later, Voldemort shouted in pain and rage as a firework connected with the back of his skull. Before he could turn, Mud had tackled him. Immediately figures surrounded the two, but didn't do anything. Peter couldn't figure out why for a minute, then realized that if they aimed for Mud, they might hit their master.

The struggle was momentary, however, as Voldemort's superior weight soon pushed Mud to the ground. The larger man pinned him to the ground, a hand around his neck. Mud struggled, but to no avail. Peter thought fast. Taking out his piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, he began to patiently fill the room with blueberry bubbles. They couldn't do anything to get the figures to leave, but they might impede their progress. Before he was done, the gum ran out, so he moved over to the doors and the bar holding them closed. He pulled out the Acid Pop, gritted his teeth, and licked it all over its round surface as quickly as he could. It immediately began burning through his tongue, but he ignored the pain, and stuck the now activated Pop onto the metal bar. 

After a few minutes, it had burned through the metal and even some of the wood. He pounded on the door with a fist. Through the hole, he could see a flash of red, then brown. A green eye peered through the hole, then jumped back when seeing an eye already there. Peter could see it was Lily now, and Remus beside her. The hole was widening, and he mouthed help at her, his tongue too painful to say anything. She and Remus dashed away and Peter breathed a sigh of relief. 

Before he could move away, he felt his form being shoved aside roughly, and the doors burst inward without anyone touching them. Voldemort and his followers marched past him, one of them with James slung over a shoulder. Peter made a choking sound and lunged for James, but was shoved away by one of his own bubbles. Soon the troupe had vanished into the corridors while Peter stared hopelessly after them. 

Only because he was looking that direction could he manage to catch a shadow detaching itself from the others. It ran to where the dark robes had turned the corner, and followed. Peter felt slightly comforted. Wherever they took James, Sirius would follow. Giving a broken sigh, he slid down the wall to wait for the teachers to come, his head in his hands.


	11. The Thief

The thief slid through the shadows, silently trailing the cloaked figures through the lower corridors of Hogwarts. He was wearing his black jeans and tight black t-shirt as he usually did, but he was still concerned that one of the attackers would catch sight of his arms or face. Sirius, for obvious reasons, hadn't had time to apply the charcoal that was almost part of his stealth uniform. He now had to use his talents to the utmost just to keep up, freezing randomly to throw off anyone looking around for trailers. No one had spotted him yet.

When Voldemort's troops had entered the Hall, he'd immediately slid under the table and crawled immediately to the far end, away from the attackers. Twining around the other Gryffindor's legs, he'd managed to avoid touching anyone until he'd heard Conner's screams from the Crucio Curse. The boy had been so startled, he'd jumped, hitting against someone's legs. The girl had screamed, but no one noticed - they were screaming too, or stunned. In the confusion, Sirius had made it to a dark corner and had climbed up the wall. It had been easy with all of the ornate designs on them, and he'd hid among the rafters, among the illusions of dancing skeletons, hoping to maybe do something, while the black-cloaked men had attacked his peers.

Sirius had watched while James and Peter had talked to a particularly tall one, watched as James got slung to the ground, watched as his wand was confiscated. He'd seen them come across Mud, stared as both James and Mud were later tossed into the pile of stunned students, smiled smugly as Peter had something obviously displeasing to Voldemort, who was the only one loud enough to be heard in the rafters. His jaw had dropped when James had snuck up on the leader. He'd flushed in rage when his best friend was flung into the wall hard enough for him to hear a crack from his vantage point. Sirius had almost blown his cover right then and there, and probably would have had he not seen Mud slinking up from another angle. But Mud failed as well and Sirius made his way to the floor just in time for him to hide from the parade of attackers leaving, a glimpse of a smaller, familiar body slung over the same man who had earlier slapped the first year.

Now he was trailing them. They were no longer being quiet, although still in Hogwarts, so confident were they that they would escape. 

"The Death Eaters have triumphed!"

"What are you talking about, Jonsson? We barely got away without the professors following us!"

"They didn't even catch a glimpse of us! And, we have an asset to be used against the Ministry!"

"The Potter boy? Do you really think that Finn will cave into demands just because we have her son?"

"Women do crazy things for their offspring, and Maggie Finn is no exception."

Sirius swallowed hard. He'd had no idea that James was the son of the Minister of Magic. Now he knew why James was the only one to be taken. 

The Death Eaters suddenly halted before a door. Sirius knew of this one - it wasn't actually a door, only a wall pretending to be one. Or so he'd thought. But the one called Voldemort now touched it with his wand, an intense look of concentration on his face. A bead of light appeared at the center of the top part of the frame, expanding into a line that traced itself around the sides and down to the floor. Sirius watched in amazement as a scene formed on the otherside - Forbidden Forest. The Death Eaters trailed through, and just before it closed, the thief slipped through.

It was dark in the Forest, and full of even darker shadows, which suited Sirius's purposes quite well. The Death Eaters paused here, and Sirius watched carefully as they bound James's arms behind his back. His friend was still unconscious, but that didn't stop the men from roughing him up a little. Sirius winced as a particularly nasty kick connected with his ribs, but couldn't risk betraying himself yet. A length of cloth was tied loosely around his neck, connected to a tether that was secured to a tree. It was only when they were sure he wouldn't be able to go anywhere that they woke him up.

The thief watched as James peered around groggily, but before his eyes had focused on anything, one of the thugs pulled his glasses from his face. Damn, thought Sirius as the Death Eater threw them to the ground and stepped on them. James winced at the audible crack - he knew what had just been broken. But he didn't say anything about them, or about their whereabouts. Instead, he swore the dirtiest oath Sirius had ever heard, even living in the slums. The thief blinked. He wasn't sure one could even do that to oneself. It was, in Sirius's most devout opinion, the most appropriate thing James could have said.

The Death Eaters didn't even blink. The three who were paying the boy any sort of attention grinned or smirked or outright laughed. They were definitely most satisfied at their captive's predicament.

"Sounds like someone oughta wash your mouth out with soap, Potter. Wonder if Mommy knows you know words like that."

"You leave my mother outta this."

"You wouldn't be in this situation, but for your mother."

James swore again - Sirius had some idea that he hadn't thought anyone knew of his identity. Well, Sirius hadn't known, but apparently others had.

At that moment, the troup appeared to decide to move off again. James was hauled roughly to his feet and gagged. His shortest tormenter took charge of the - leash, Sirius thought of it - and the tallest one, the one who had James's wand, drifted to the back of the pack. 

James was effectively blinded by the loss of his glasses. The boy kept stumbling over roots or walking into trees or altogether falling down. Sirius was most decidedly angry about this, but glad in a way too. James's clumsiness kept the Death Eaters from moving very rapidly, which let Sirius keep up easily. And since he couldn't do anything helpful for James at the moment, he decided to steal the wand back.

It was sticking careless out of the man's pocket at the very end of the line. So easy to simply reach from a shadow on the side of the trail and grab it. It wasn't altogether different from a hand off. The only difference was that the one he was taking the goods from had no idea he was giving them away. A matter of minutes, and James's wand was slid into the the long pocket he'd purposely sewn onto his jeans, right on the side of his left thigh. Sirius was, after all, left handed. 

The boy trailed the party until nightfall, when they found a clearing to camp in. Sirius crouched stock still in the brush on the edge, wondering why they hadn't Apparated yet. After a minute, he figured that they couldn't Apparate James with them, so would have no point. Why kidnap someone just to leave them behind?

They must have been very confident, as they left no guard. Sirius thought that was very stupid of them, but wasn't about to inform them of that. Instead, he crawled slowly and silently over to the oak tree to which James was tethered. Anyone watching him might have thought he looked very odd, crouched in an odd position, taking his time, feeling under his lightweight boots for anything that might shift or break or otherwise make a sound. Fifteen minutes later (James was on the opposite side of the clearing from where Sirius had originally stopped), he placed his hand carefully over James's still gagged mouth, feeling him jerk suddenly awake.

"It's me. Come on, we're getting out of here."

James nodded and Sirius removed his hand, reaching for the pocket knife in his back pocket. The student's weren't supposed to carry weapons, but what's a thief without a knife? Cutting the collar thing first, the theif slit his friend's wrist bonds only a moment later. James removed his gag himself, then rubbed his wrists as if to rid the feeling of bonds from them. 

Sirius pulled out his friend's wand and put it in his hands. The near blind eyes squinted at it, then grinned. Pointing the stick at his own eyes, he almost silently whispered one word.

_"Videndo."_

Sirius watched as the blue eyes seemed to suddenly focus. He nodded and the two moved out. It was harder now. Sirius was long accustomed to moving silently, but James wasn't. He was about as good as any adolescent male, and, sure enough, not even fifty meters from their starting spot, James stepped on a branch. The normally quiet sound shot out like a shot in the night, waking up a few of the Death Eaters instantly. They only needed to light their wands and look at the place where James had previously resided to know what had happened. Those fully awake began shooting spells in the direction of the two boys.

"RUN!" Sirius shouted at James and the two tore off, disregarding the sounds they made now. If they could just get onto the path, Sirius thought, they'd had a fair chance. Then they wouldn't be breaking the trail for Voldemort and his followers, and they wouldn't be making half as much sound. James a few steps ahead must have been thinking along the same lines, because he veered to the right and the boys quickly stumbled onto the trail.

The spells tossed at them were getting worse, however. He made sure he was between the Minister's son and the Death Eaters at all times, because it was James they wanted, not him. As a result, he caught the brunt of the spells. A Tickling Charm, of all things, hit Sirius first and he began laughing silently, but managed to keep his mouth shut and legs pumping. Another charm made two trees reach for him, but they were slow and he was not. A whirlwind of sharpened leaves started, catching him in its midst. One slashed him on the cheek and another on the eyebrow, allowing blood to blind his vision. Wiping his face quickly (the pain would come later, after the adrenaline), his moment of blindness had him trip over a branch. He rolled, coming to his feet almost as soon as he had fallen, but the leaves had scored many times on him as he rolled from their midst.

They turned a bend on the trail. This took them out of the line-of-sight of the Death Eaters. Sirius had no ideas, but James had evidently been thinking as he ran. The youth climbed the first green tree in sight, hiding among it's leaves. Sirius followed suit, but in a different tree, a little bit further along the trail. He stopped moving just as the Death Eaters turned the corner.

"Shit! Where did they go?"

"How the hell should I know? The one just came out of nowhere - why not disappear back into it!"

"The Dark Lord will not be pleased."

"Neither am I, but that doesn't affect anything! Search the area!"

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius expelled a deep breath as the followers of Voldemort left, empty handed and scared. Waiting five more minutes to make sure they'd left, he crawled from the tree. James met him on the path. In the darkness, the theif couldn't quite see his friend's face, but from the slight tremor in his voice, James was just as scared as he was.

"Are-are they gone?"

"I hope so." Sirius didn't sound scared, just tired. He was a good liar.

"Which way back?" James asked.

"I guess we'll just follow the trail. They used some wierd magic door to get to the center of the Forest, so we'll just have to find our way out ourselves."

"Great. Just what I love to hear."

"Yeah. Say, can you see all right there, mate?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Dad showed me that spell so I could use it to find my glasses when I lost them. It's temporary though and you can't do it more than once a week without making your eyes worse, that's why I don't just do without glasses."

"Oh."

* * *

  
  


At dawn's first light, the boys stood before the silohuette of Hogwarts, right at the edge of Forbidden Forest. James was supporting Sirius a bit, who was woozy from the loss of blood. The cuts those leaves had given him weren't very deep, but it seemed as if he had a million of them, all of which had continued to ooze blood for two hours. Sirius knew James's vision was getting blurry again, because he would trip over fallen tree trunks and had almost walked into a tree twice in the past hour. 

Without saying anything, the friends trudged silently towards their school. Sirius felt as if his legs were two dead weights attached to his torso as he pulled himself up the steps. He made it before James and tugged at the handles. Oddly, they were locked, but Sirius was now so exhausted he hardly cared. Placing his back to the wood, he slid down to sit on one edge, watching the world tilt crazily with mildly curious detachment. The thief sensed rather than heard James pound on the door, then shout at it, but he did notice when Lily's face appeared in front of him. Forcing himself to focus on her mesmerizing green eyes, he managed to stir from his torpor.

"What?"

"Sirius, Sirius, are you all right?"

"Tired." He'd been awake for almost thirty six hours, after all.

"I know, just stay with me, Sirius, you've got a lot of cuts. Where did they all come from?"

Dimly, he noticed that Remus had joined Lily and could feel them hoisting him to his feet, one arm slung over Lily's shoulders and the other over Remus's. He was glad they were there. He'd probably fall without them.

"Sirius? Did you hear Lily?" That was Remus.

"Huh?"

"She asked where all the cuts came from."

Oh. Was that it? Why couldn't they leave him along? Leave. Leaves. Ha ha, that was funny, he thought.

"Leaves."

"Er - all right then."

They made it to the Hospital Wing. Sirius belatedly wondered where James was, then figured out Peter was helping him only a few feet ahead. Next, he wondered where the professors all were.

"Professors?" He managed to slur the word out.

"We're right here, Mr. Black. And we've all been worried sick about you! Are you out of your mind?!? Following a band of people who are known to practice Dark Arts out of the castle, to God knows where! You ought to be expelled!" Must be McGonagall.

_Death Eaters_, he mentally corrected her. He was too tired to reply. It was enough to concentrate on Remus, who was helping him change into those cool pajamas he'd picked out in Diagon Alley. The ones with the stars all over them. Like his name. _Twinkle, twinkle, little star..._

Wow, I must be really out of it. He got into the bed, watching as the world swirled together again. This time it didn't firm up, but continued to whirl until the darkness swallowed him.

  
  


(Ok, sorry for the lack of updates, but if you check my profile, you'll know why. In fact, the only reason I had time to write this was because we had thunderstorms tonight and my mother wouldn't let me go out to the barn. Also, as you may have figured out, I am American, and I have decided to stop trying to use British units, as I just don't understand them except in terms of science. Lastly, don't expect another update until early next month, because the lease on my horse doesn't run out until March 3)


	12. The Werewolf

Remus stayed by Sirius's side, watching his friend breathe. Luckily, the inhalations were deep and healthy, so despite the thief's sorry-looking exterior, the damage was all superficial. It was close to noon now, and despite the fact that he still had homework, he chose to remain in the Hospital Wing with his two friends. Lily was there too, on the other side of Sirius and next to James as well, while Peter was opposite Lily. 

Both James and Sirius were fine, though no one had figured out what had happened. Sirius had only been able to mutter something about leaves before he'd dropped into oblivion, and James had said something about Death Eaters and trees. But Madam Pomfrey had insisted he take a Sleeping Potion, though he'd hardly needed it. 

As soon as the professors had heard the few words of the two fugitives, they'd adjourned to the headmaster's office. Remus didn't know what was happening now, and didn't really care, but he thought it would have been nice to know what had happened to his two fellow Marauders. 

He blinked sleepily. The werewolf had now been awake for more than forty hours and was having trouble keeping his eyes open. When they'd found out that both Sirius and James were missing, Remus and Lily and Peter had refused to sleep until they returned. Both Peter and Lily were asleep now, Peter's chin on his chest and Lily's head resting next to Sirius. But Remus couldn't sleep, not yet.

The boy rose and moved quietly to the window. Clasping his arms together behind his back, his eyes tracked the path of a passing cloud. 

_How did I know? How did I know that Sirius should be there, and that Lily was unneccessary? How did I know?_ The question gnawed at him. Worse, he knew the answer, and wished he didn't.

_Damn wolf. Damn instincts._ There was something else inside of him, a creature that hid behind soft words and a lean frame. A beast. A monster. That's what he was. And yet that beast may have saved James's life.

The boy growled unconsciously, furious at himself for even remotely liking the fact that he was a werewolf. At that moment, someone groaned behind him and the youth spun about, the hair on the back of his neck rising like hackles, his eyes wide and feral.

It was Sirius, his arm coming up to rub across his eyes. Remus calmed himself down and moved back to the bedside. It was amazing how little sleep the thief needed.

"Sirius? You feel all right?" Remus whispered softly, trying not to wake up the other three.

"Goddamned leaves."

"Leaves?"

"Yeah."

Remus was just about to decide to leave off conversation until his friend was fully awake when Sirius bolted up, whacking Lily's head in the process. 

"Ow!"

"James! James, is he all right?!?" Sirius all but shouted.

"Calm down, Sirius! He's right there, he's fine. Better condition than you, as a matter of fact."

"Did the sky fall down?" Lily asked, still half asleep.

"Not yet, I don't think." Peter was rubbing his own eyes now. 

James coughed twice, then squinted his eyes into the sunlight.

"Wha-a-a-t?"

Remus surveyed the group.

"Well, Sirius, I do believe you have woken them all up now. Pity."

Sirius shrugged, now fully awake, and twisted to look at Remus. He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, his eyes widening. 

"Looks like you need some sleep yourself, chap."

Remus shrugged himself, wondering if there were dark circles under his eyes or something.

"I'll get sleep later."

Lily finally brought herself to a semblance of intelligence and blinked her emerald eyes owlishly at Remus.

"Did you not sleep just now? Good Lord, Remus, you haven't slept for forty hours now!"

Everyone turned to look at him - he squirmed under their gaze.

"Look, it doesn't matter that much. What do you want me to do, sleep for one of your birthdays? Speaking of which, when is everyone's?"

He was trying to change the subject and everybody knew it, but to Remus's relief, they dropped the sleep topic and focused on birthdays.

James piped up first.

"I'm going to be twelve on November 19!"

"Hey, that's my half-birthday! Mine is on May 19," explained Lily.

"January 12 here," offered Remus.

"June 23!" exclaimed Peter.

"I've never had a birthday."

Everyone shut up and stared at Sirius. He fidgeted.

"Guys, it's not that big a deal. My mother was a whore who didn't want me, my mom was another whore who died when I was five in a fire, and neither ever told me my birthday. And Beck and the boys never celebrated birthdays, mainly for the reason that none of us knew them."

There was an awkward silence. Then James's face brightened.

"I know! We'll have an unbirthday for you! And we'll always celebrate that instead of your birthday, and you can just know you're the next age on that day!"

Sirius brightened.

"Can I choose it?"

"Sure."

"April 1."

"That's April Fool's Day!"

"Exactly."

Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to enter, followed by McGonagoll, Guidry, and Dumbledore. The looks they gave the three standing Marauders left no room for interpretation, they left the room. 

"Who's first?" asked Peter.

"James," said Remus, who had been keeping track.

"Fantastic," grinned Lily.

  
  


* * *

  
  


_Whump!_

Remus jerked awake just after the pillow made impact, thoroughly alarmed. He was halfway to his attacker before he realized it was Lily and quickly pulled his instincts under control. Scrounging around for a shirt - he always slept barechested - and managing to blush at the same time, he hissed to her under his breath.

"Lily, what on earth are you doing in our dormitory in the middle of the night?!?

"Help me get the other two up and down to the Common Room and I'll tell you."

Remus sighed, but complied, shaking Peter awake quietly. He awoke rather easily, but Sirius had more trouble and almost walked straight into the closed door while trying to get downstairs. However, by the time Lily got the three boys to the Common Room, they were all quite wide awake.

"Ok, it's the seventh of November, and James's birthday is on the nineteenth. We have to make him something, since obviously we didn't know who'd we be friends with when we came here and so don't have presents. So we need a few days to actually make whatever it is we're making. Any ideas?"

The four sat and thought for a few minutes. Finally, Peter offered something a bit hesitantly.

"Isn't there a potion that can let you know other people's thoughts for an hour or something like that?"

Remus thought for a minute.

"I think so, but it's very advanced."

Sirius looked thoughtful, then ran upstairs. He came down a few seconds later and plopped down a text on the table. It was _Understanding the Intricacies of Potions: Advanced Potions Made Simple_. He began flipping through pages while the other three stared. Stopping at one particular page, the thief ran a finger down the recipe.

"Ok, that potion is called the Sciomentis Draft. It's very difficult, but this book alters it to make it easier. In doing so, it also cuts the time that the person taking it can hear others thoughts to five minutes and he can only hear the thoughts of those in the same room as him. I can do this, but I'd need help with the ingredients." The youth looked up. "What?"

He'd finally noticed the other three staring incredulously at him. Remus smiled in amusement, and broke the silence first.

"Sirius, reading? The sky must be falling."

Sirius made a face at him and opened his mouth to say something, but Peter spoke first.

"I can help with ingredients. I know all of these pretty well."

"Ok, that's decided. Now, what'll Remus and I do?"

Silence settled on the group again. 

"Well, you could make him something that could detect others that were wishing him ill will, and maybe it flashed a certain color for certain people, and..." Sirius trailed off, seeing Lily shaking her head.

"Too advanced. I know for sure that involves the Contemno Charm, which is still way out of my league. And I'm the best in Charms of everyone in the entire year."

The four sat in silence for a few more minutes before Sirius caught on something.

"His glasses."

"What about them?"

"I've seen him squint a lot in Herbology and whenever we go outside. I think his eyes are sensitive to the sun, but he can't wear sunglasses because he already has glasses. What if you somehow put sunglasses in his prescription and his regular glasses together so he can have two pairs in one. Maybe if you could transfigure them on cue...or....maybe that's a bad idea...." He trailed off for the second time that night.

Remus sat up straight.

"No, that's a fantastic idea! No, really, Lily, hear me out. He has probably four pairs of glasses in his trunk that he never even looks at, because his parents insist he have them in case he loses or breaks the pair he's got. So if we swipe two pairs, we could do it. All it needs is some morphing transfiguration and a Switching Spell and we can do that."

Lily nodded slowly.

"Ok. Let's get started now."

* * *

  
  


"AAAAH!!!"

"Goddamnit, Sirius, be quiet!"

"It's kind of hard when there's a pair of glasses slamming into the back of your head without warning!"

"Remus, Sirius, just shut up, or we'll wake everyone up! Peter, will you toss me the glasses?"

The object in question landed neatly in Lily's hand. She set it back on the table and Remus went back to work on them. He was using a subtle morphing transfiguration method, changing the shape and color to be more like sunglasses. He was, however, very careful not to change the thickness of the lenses.

Lily was reading over a charms book, looking at the Switching Spell. It wasn't too complicated, but it was above first year, probably early second year. She was practicing the motion, a flick and twist movement, but had accidentally caught Remus's current assignment in her last trial, accidentally sending it flying across the room. 

It was the night before James's birthday and Remus was slightly nervous they weren't going to be done in time. He wasn't too nervous, though. The sunglasses were almost the way they wanted them to be, and Lily had already charmed both them and the normal glasses to be unbreakable and impervious to mud and water. All she had to do now was the Switching Spell to make them one. 

The werewolf wasn't so worried about Sirius and Peter's project. It had been completed two nights before and was now just brewing. Peter hadn't had any trouble finding ingredients and preparing them, and Sirius seemed to have a pretty good instinct for knowing when to put the next item in. 

"Two hours," proclaimed Sirius. 

"Huh?" Remus was confused now.

"We can put it in a vial in two hours," clarified the thief. "It'll stay good for a decade then."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Lily was impatiently tapping her wand on the desk, waiting for Remus to put the finishing touches on the sunglasses. He glared at her, and she stopped. A minute later, he slid them over to her.

"There. Done. Happy?"

"Very. _Alius res!"_ The girl's wand flicked and twisted, the tip ending up on the point where James would eventually touch it to switch from one pair to the other. Remus blinked. Where the dark pair and the clear pair had been sitting side by side, there was only the clear pair.

_"Alius res!"_ Lily finished the second part of the spell, and now the sunglasses sat there. She sat back with a satisfied smile. Remus looked at her doubtfully, then reached for them. Touching the spot, he was suddenly holding the regular glasses instead of the sunglasses. He and the girl exchanged a grin.

"Very nice, Lily, very nice."

She smirked.

"I know."

Two and a half hours later, the glasses had been wrapped in a box, covered with paper and ribbons that alternately flashed gold and red. Sirius and Peter had been more entertaining with their gift; They'd put it in the smallest box in a series of twelve boxes, one for each year James had lived. Sirius had discovered the beauty of tape coming from one's wand and decided to tape every crevice and edge on every box and every opening on the wrapping paper that Peter conjured. The last box was rather big, but since the wrapping paper and tape was conjured, it didn't take long to finish wrapping. All four of the plotters were grinning by the time they were done.

The boys finally headed up the stairs to catch some sleep. Remus was grinning - he always loved celebrating birthdays. And this year was special. This year, he had friends. 

Going past a window, his eyes locked on the moon. The smile dropped from his face. 

Tommorrow night was the full moon.

  
  
  
  


_(Sorry it took so long, but this chapter was a son of a bitch to write. I think the next few chapters will be as well, so just bear with me. I'll try and get another chapter out this month, then one in April and maybe two in May. After that, I don't know, so just keep checking back!)_


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